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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Libido's gone, OH frustrated - relationship suffering

100 replies

NannyPahLum · 24/06/2015 09:17

Sorry this is long but think background is relevant...

Ok, so we've been together 6 yrs. First 2 yrs long distance and just saw each other every other weekend. Always plenty of good sex.

Then we moved in together. Sex increased to every other day on average (sometimes more, but on average)

But about a year after moving in together our lives went a bit awry... OH's business folded, I was made redundant. After several months of constant job applications and getting nowhere we sank under debt. Lost our privately rented home and had to sell just about everything we owned. In the midst of all this I had an abnormal smear and and to have precancerous cells removed. I ended up with a nasty infection after the procedure that took lots of medication and several weeks to recover from. Although not being able to have sex during the infection, sex life apart from that didn't suffer.

Just as we moved to his parents I finally got a new job, and a week later so did OH. But then just another week in we discovered I'd fallen pregnant. Not planned and battled with whether to terminate or not, due to our less than desirable circumstances for raising children. But decided to keep the baby as in the end we both realised we couldn't go through with a termination. Despite all this, sex life didn't suffer too much.

So we spent those pregnancy months working our arses off and paying our debts so we could get our own place for when the baby arrived... We found a little place. I went into labour early - the evening before we were due to move into new house! Caused quite a few disruptions with landlord & estate agent but we got there in the end.

So baby has arrived, but birth was traumatic and prolonged. I suffered PND, PTS and generally found it difficult to adapt to my new life with a baby who wasn't an easy baby. I had to give up work as we couldnt afford the childcare for me to return. Cue sex life takes a nose dive

I ended up on AD's and still on them now.

Over the next few years Ive struggled to raise DS with zero help - OH works a LOT of hours, he's out from 5am until after DS's bedtime at 7pm. I'm 200 miles from my family, his family all work full time. DS is not easy - always been difficult & naughty and I have consistent with discipline which be draining when I'm doing it all alone.

Sex life has never recovered despite our DS now being 2.7 yo. Since his birth we've been through another 2 house moves due to bad landlords, discovered I was pregnant again when DS was 6 mths but miscarried the day after finding out. Was both upset and relieved all at the same time. We've had 2 significant deaths in the family just days apart. I'm devastated but trying to cope. I'm also single handedly planning our wedding that's in July and it's been a BIG stress.... I'm stressed miserable and have zero sex drive.

But none of these events havr affected OH's sex drive and it's causing big problems in our relationship just weeks away from marrying each other.

I find his constant groping of me, sexual innuendos or direct comments of what he wants to do to me in bed irritating. Or him seeing my reluctance to have sex as 'playing hard to get' and still pursuing and pushing until I give in to shut him up, is starting to cause me some resentment towards him.

A couple times he's even penetrated me (not in an aggressive forceful manner) even when I've said I'm not in the mood. He did it again last night and this time I got quite upset and stormed out of the bedroom and slept on the sofa

I don't know what to do. We both love each other, and i respect he works so hard for us. But the stresses of life over the last couple of years have really affected my libido and I can't give him what he needs. But him trying to take it anyway is not making this any better.

When we do have sex, when I do actually want to, it's still good. It's just so few and far between and im frustrating him. He accuses me of not loving him when I don't give it up. I do I'm just bloody tired!

Am I at fault for losing sex drive and not satisfying him? How do I regain it?

OP posts:
DorisDazzler · 25/06/2015 22:22

I'm glad you've confronted him about this , but like the pp I also suspect this behaviour will reoccur. He seems to be surrounded by friends and family who share his abusive ideas about women. For him to have done this to you while you are depressed and recently bereaved says a lot about him. I hope it works out for you. In the meantime I would give pervy friend and fil a wide berth.

NannyPahLum · 26/06/2015 07:14

I did mention the marriage - said that marriage was not ownership. I asked him if I was to expect more of this treatment as his wife because he viewed me as 'his'... His head fell in his hands, as though it had all just fallen into place how he'd made me feel. He did look ashamed of himself. He promised me it's not how he'd ever intended to make me feel, he was so sorru and that's not how he saw marriage. But I didn't weaken, I continued with "well you'd better mean it, because there's such a thing as divorce. Marriage does not secure my presence. If it happens any more, regardless if a marriage licence I will still leave you!"

In all honesty I will still marry him - for financial security for my son and I. Currently I'm not on the tenancy of our home because I'm not working. He runs his own business so he's the tenancy holder and im just a 'permitted occupant' But once married I have rights to the tenancy, and after the wedding getting my name on the tenancy is my priority. And his financial earnings will be equally mine...

Seems callous but I do love him and do believe he's just made a huge mistake partially through my not being truly honest and not understanding I was actuallt being abused. I've tackled it head on through the advice given to me here, BUT if he proves he hasn't changed and has just been spinning me a load of BS then I want to ensure my son and I are financially secure with a roof over our heads. Because I have no family to go back to - even if my mother took me in I don't want to be there. I'd be going from the frying pan into the fire.

I've also told him I'll be keeping my own surname. I told him this a couple of months back and it led to him going into a strop because he thought I wasn't fully committing. I advised my name was a personal thing and it did not invalidate marriage or only make it half a marriage, but I'm still 'me' I am not his possession and I have a right to keep my name if I wanted, and I will be doing so... He nodded in agreement

I am determined? feel confident and empowered. I feel I've finally gained some control back over my own life and he has finally listened. But if he hasn't and things revert then I will leave, married or not he can't stop me

OP posts:
pinkyredrose · 26/06/2015 10:02

You don't need to be married or working to be on a tenancy. Let him strop about your name, you could say he isn't fully committing if he isn't changing his.

I'm worried that you're still making excuses for what he's done, you still see yourself as partly responsible. However it's good to are how determined you are and how much stronger you sound.

cailindana · 26/06/2015 10:14

I have to say, from an outside perspective it seems very odd and self destructive to marry someone who has raped you in order to get financial security. It seems to me that, possible due to your upbringing, you have very low expectations of people around you and life in general. You don't have to marry this man. You can secure a future for yourself and your son on your own.

AyeAmarok · 26/06/2015 10:19

We'll done OP, I think that all sounds promising. And definitely worth a shot, with you both knowing where you're line is.

differentnameforthis · 26/06/2015 10:53

Because sometimes I HAVE begrudgingly given in to his pestering for no reason other than to stop it and any resulting arguments But that is a choice you made & it STILL doesn't give him the right to try & have sex with you after you have said NO!!

Your signals & choices are NOT a invitation to rape you! NOTHING you do caused this. NOTHING!

Are you still going through with the wedding? Is postpone it at least a year. Worried fir you that he might 'behave himself ' for a few weeks then revert to type whrn you're his wife. Have you spoken to.him about this? EXACTLY what I was going to say. The commitment of marriage is far far harder, mentally & physically, to get out of than being a partner. Violence escalates after marriage, I am not suggesting he will start hitting you, but he may up his efforts to force sex with you.

Currently I'm not on the tenancy of our home because I'm not working. He runs his own business so he's the tenancy holder and im just a 'permitted occupant' But once married I have rights to the tenancy, and after the wedding getting my name on the tenancy is my priority. And his financial earnings will be equally mine... Oh op...you have EVERY right to be on the tenancy with him! married or not. This is just ONE more thing..he has done that because it takes away your security. IF, for any reason you leave, you will have no home. Your son will have no home. Which once again...makes it harder for you to leave him! Where as, on joint tenancy, you have much right to be there as he does..right now, you have VERY little, to no rights!

Good luck getting on the tenancy agreement...my guess is, is that he will use excuse after excuse for adding you! He will have to sign the paperwork to allow it & I can't see that happening in a hurry!

differentnameforthis · 26/06/2015 11:04

I know I have ranted at you op, but I deal with victims of abuse a lot in my job & the patterns are always the same. Whether the abuse is emotional, physical (inc rape)

Aggressive behaviour often escalates after marriage & despite women saying they will leave, they often don't...not for a long time because they lack financial security & will be as good as homeless. You said yourself, that you will have nowhere to go. Add to that, you actually have no right to live in the home you have made. As a "permitted occupant" he can revoke that permission in the blink of an eye.

You are so vulnerable right now. And I am concerned that marriage will make you more so.

I am SO concerned that you are even thinking of the possibility of leaving & you are not even married, this isn't how marriage starts! You KNOW this is wrong, yet you are prepared to keep going along with it for financial reasons.

He now knows you are onto him, and he knows that you excuse his behaviour. He will, I fear, keep his cards close to his chest, be the perfect gent for long enough for you to 'forget' this & get married & you will be completely tied.

Yes, divorce is there. But it isn't as easy as that! He can refuse to comply with your wishes, drag the divorce out/refuse the divorce, cut you off financially, make it harder for you to end the marriage & move on.

Rape isn't always aggressive & forceful..rape is not always violent.

NannyPahLum · 26/06/2015 12:24

It wasn't him that stopped me being on the tenancy it was the letting agent.

When I was working and could prove I had earnings I was on the tenancy of all our other rentals - ny OH has never objected to that.

The agent of the property we're currently in said I couldnt be on the tenancy because I had failed their referencing process due to having no personal income other than child benefit, because I wasn't working. My OH did actually try to dispute their decision advising them I can't work as we can't afford childcare and aren't entitled to any other benefits so his income is also my income, but they wouldn't budge. They would only accept his income as jointly my income if we were married. As we had our wedding date already set and planned we accepted their terms, because we desperately needed somewhere to live (our landlord at that time had decided to sell the property we were living in as he couldn't be arsed to maintain the property and we'd endured months of aggro with him and we were just a couple of weeks away from being kicked out)

My OH has always agreed I should be on the tenancy too, as I have been on all our other homes together, and that as soon as we are married that's what will happen.

I understand your concerns but that is an unfounded one because he really isn't THAT controlling

OP posts:
Jan45 · 26/06/2015 13:26

Well if him forcing himself on you isn't going to make you want to not marry him, I doubt anything we say will. He's saying all the right things right now to keep you on side, the proof is in actions, his actions are deplorable in my book but hey, it's your life, your future, I just hope the shit treatment of you doesn't escalate when you are joined in matrimony, I still think you are selling yourself way too short on this man, he's a weak and selfish individual, he's already proved that to you. I hope I am wrong.

Lweji · 26/06/2015 13:43

Have you considered the implications of getting a divorce?

It can be expensive, legal aid is only for dv cases and means tested.
At this point, you can walk out. You can get financial support and maintenance payments from him to your children.
Being married you would still have problems in kicking him out of the house.

And I'd treat with great caution his act of regret upon "realising" what he has been doing to you.

DorisDazzler · 26/06/2015 17:00

You won't be financially secure. You'll be dependent on him.

pinkyredrose · 26/06/2015 20:46

OP how do you know the letting agents said all that? Did they tell you or did he tell you?

Plus , ..... "he isn't THAT controlling"!!!!! He shouldn't be controlling AT ALL! !!

I'm so concerned that you're going to end up in an horrific marriage and being totally trapped.

NannyPahLum · 26/06/2015 22:58

The letting agent said it to me, I was the one who found the house. OH was working and we were desperate. If we'd waited for him to view etc it could have been snapped up. I told him it was a nice, he said he trusted me, I arranged the referencing. Following the referencing the agent contacted ME and told ME I had failed but OH had passed due to reasons I've already stated. OH said if I wanted to carry on looking for an agent that would allow me on the tenancy he understood, but I agreed to just be a permitted occupant as we could've ended up homeless with an infant and I wasn't going to allow that

And OH at that point hadn't ever penetrated without permission. We'd had a couple of rows about my lack of interest in intimacy but that was all at that point

OP posts:
pinkyredrose · 26/06/2015 23:17

See OP? See how things have escalated? I'm so concerned for you, so worried that by October/November you'll be wondering why he's started to abuse you again. I hope I'm wrong for your sake but in my experience guys like this just escalate no matter how long it takes them.

pinkyredrose · 26/06/2015 23:20

You're still minimising and making excuses. You're still determined to show us that he's a great guy who just got his boundaries confused. You're willing to put the pain you feel over his actions to one side. You're going to get even more hurt than you are now.

Lweji · 27/06/2015 00:16

Yes, it escalated when he realised you depended on him for your housing. And it will every single time he perceives you as weaker and more dependent.

NannyPahLum · 27/06/2015 07:47

I'm not trying to show you he's a great guy, what he's done was wrong and it's hurt me. But I think it's only fair to give you the truth and the facts - he did not prevent me from being on the tenancy agreement, it was my decision

OP posts:
pinkyredrose · 27/06/2015 08:29

Ok forget the tenancy. Do you rely believe that marrying him will give you financial security? How much more financially secure will you be? Do you trust him and his family not to make things as hideous as possible in a divorce if that should happen?

NannyPahLum · 27/06/2015 09:35

If they wanted to make things hideous for me though, they would whether we were married or not.

And to be honest I've got the upper hand because I could move back to where I originate from, 200 miles away (just a different county not out of the country) taking my son with me. There's no law saying I can't do that, especially if it's for our safety...and the only reason I'd do that is of he assaults me again. In which case I will report it and get professional help and he'd be outed to his family as a rapist and it would be for safety.

I think he made a whopping great mistake, which I did contribute to by giving mixed signals (this is not words he's put in my mouth btw, this is from me only) and therefore blurring the lines somewhat to an extent he thought I was playing hard to get because I was giving in. I've learnt a big bloody lesson from it. I'm not accepting it's ok, the boundaries have now been made absolutely clear to him and it's been made clear that as he is now fully aware of my feelings on this I WILL leave him and I WILL report him and I WILL seek professional assistance

OP posts:
differentnameforthis · 27/06/2015 10:41

It wasn't him that stopped me being on the tenancy it was the letting agent. It just doesn't sound right to me, I have never heard of this. But you know your situation better, obviously.

differentnameforthis · 27/06/2015 11:13

You said you didn't know what was normal in a relationship, op. All the things I have listed come from your posts, and considering that you haven't posted many (20, on a thread of almost 100) the issues you have are many & varied. And NONE of them are 'normal' in relationships.

The fact that he let his dad lay his hands on you & let his dad & friend make inappropriate sexual suggestions about you is massive, imo. It shows that he sees you (as does his dad & friend) as an object to be leered at, and touched by any man who sees fit.

Seriously, look at the list...is that REALLY how you imagined your life to be?

*Ive struggled to raise DS with zero help
*I'm also single handedly planning our wedding
*none of these events havr affected OH's sex drive and it's causing big problems in our relationship
*constant groping of me,
*sexual innuendos
*direct comments of what he wants to do to me in bed
*him seeing my reluctance to have sex as 'playing hard to get' and still pursuing and pushing until I give in to shut him up
*A couple times he's even penetrated me even when I've said I'm not in the mood

  • I can't give him what he needs. But him trying to take it anyway is not making this any better *He accuses me of not loving him when I don't give it up. *he says .. "couples have sex, that's what they do. Otherwise we're just friends" or that any other woman would be flattered their OH was so attracted to them *so many talks about his overly 'fruity' behaviour, ... sometimes he forgets where he is and has slapped my bum say ... where there are people. *He accuses me of being prudish and that it's all normal in a relationship. Or blames my depression thinking I'm just having an 'episode'... *He (dh father) once slapped mine [bottom] at a family bbq in front of other people .. I was so embarrassed, but didn't feel I could kick off because 'it's just what he does' Even my OH didn't see anything wrong by it because he did it so openly in front of everyone *OH's dad and a friend often make jokey sexual suggestions about me *staying out with his friends later than he said when I was heavily pregnant, not looking after his dog properly *and I'm half-heartedly doing it [sex] just to keep him happy and off my case *begrudgingly given in to his pestering for no reason other than to stop it and any resulting arguments. I HAVE pretended to enjoy it just so I can get it over with *I've also told him I'll be keeping my own surname ... it led to him going into a strop because he thought I wasn't fully committing.

Is this REALLY what you want? Living with a man who is happy to "share" you (insofar as that he sat & did NOTHING when his father slapped your backside - a very sexually loaded thing in some cases - or when his father & friend were making sexual suggestions at you?)

In all honesty I will still marry him - for financial security for my son and I You may be financially secure, but is that all there is to life?

In which case I will report it and get professional help and he'd be outed to his family as a rapist With all his & his families fuckedupness, do you REALLY think his family will believe your accounts of rape over his accounts of you "playing hard to get?" Especially as you "let" his father touch your backside and "relished" in his father's & his friends sexual innuendo?

I KNOW that is not what you did, op. But your every action will be twisted the moment you leave him, BY him & his family.

You are awfully naive, op. I really do feel for you.

YonicScrewdriver · 27/06/2015 11:30

OP

Can you look now for a different flat that enables you both to be on the tenancy? You are less time pressured now.

I do not want to think of you going into marriage with red flags still waving motivated by financial issues. I want you to be free to make the best decision for you.

MN will be here for you if his remorse proves to be fake.

Iflyaway · 27/06/2015 12:43

I think there IS a law that says you can't just up and move DS 200 miles (or whatever) away from his father.

I know my sister had to get permission from a judge, so long ago now I don't remember the details.

I'm a LP Op and though it's not easy it sure beats being raped in your own home.... and by the person who is meant to love you above all others....

Definitely call out his father and friend when they overstep their boundaries towards you, or your DS will grow up thinking it is normal.
Hmm

MrsJackAubrey · 28/06/2015 00:22

well OP I think you've handled things really well given the appalling mothering you had and the stresses you've been under. I am deeply impressed by the conversation you had with your DP and how strong you sound about your sense of your person and priorities. I think that your partner has, with you, the chance to change and grow and become more adult; it will help him to do that if you are clear and adult in how you relate to him. It will also help his family know you for who you are, if you are straightforward with them too. If your boundaries are abit blurry I'm not bloody surprised given your mum, and it seems to me that you're getting clearer and clearer about them. You asked for some external input from MN, you got it, and you reflected and acted on it to the degree that seemed right to you. Well done you, I say.

And good luck with the sex drive returning - I know that ADs are libido killers from personal experience, as is stress and depression. So I wish you a more positive and peaceful future, so you can find your mojo again.

NannyPahLum · 28/06/2015 10:40

Thank you MrsJackAubrey I'm starting to feel I'm under attack now from most of the other posters, although I do appreciate it is due to concern for my wellbeing which I am grateful for.

But I do think I should give him a chance to sort himself out. I think the pair of us are products of poor education and parenting.

I am because, as you've all read, my mother wasn't particularly nice and was extremely controlling and bullying. I wasn't taught to love or respect myself, because she certainly didn't respect me or love me as a mother should. And although I had fairly good sex education at school, we weren't taught about rape or sexual assault. And the only input of sex education from my parents was throwing a magazine at me, when I was 13, that had a section entitled "what to teach your children about sex" and said "ere, read that"

My OH was brought up in a deprived area of London, the same area as his father and grandfather, and said they barely had any sex education at the school he went to. So his DM told DF to have 'the talk' with him. OH vividly remembers 'the talk' consisted only of "so you stick it in her fanny and give it some!" then proceeded to hand him some condoms that were several years out of date and told him to "enjoy himself"

At the beginning of this thread I hadn't realised I was being abused, and I genuinely don't think he did either. I automatically assumed it was my fault for not having no libido and felt guilty. And so did he, because that's what we've both been taught. But this thread has been a HUGE eye opener for me. The penny dropped and it clicked that it's not my fault, and he should bloody respect me! I always presumed rape was aggressive, being held down etc. It had never occurred to me what he was doing was also rape.

The light suddenly clicked on and using all your advice I ensured the light clicked on for him too. And I think it has. And I would like to give him the chance to prove he can change. We all make mistakes. I understand this was a big mistake, but people can change. Because he has never been abusive in any other aspect of our 6 year relationship.

Now we are both fully aware of what was actually happening I have the power to now stop this without feeling I'm at fault. And if it doesn't stop I will leave him...

OP posts:
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