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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

Sexually frustrated Husband

988 replies

Brightling · 23/03/2016 20:29

It seems I'm married to one of those men who gets very moody when their intimacy needs aren't being met as often as they would like.

We've been married a significant amount of time. When we first met my sex drive was average and a few years and very young children later it's pretty much dwindled. I'm all touched out by the children. I am very unhappy with my post multiple pregnancies body. I'm tired. All I want is to be able to go to bed and sleep without being propositioned. It's not every night but it happens frequently enough for it to be considered badgering. Actually what I would like also is for the "no I'm not up for it tonight" to be received with "ok let's sleep" rather than him raise his voice tell my I've got a problem, I need to see a therapist, I should stay off those websites (such as MN) and what's he supposed to do about HIS sexual needs as it sounds like he's supposed to have an affair if I'm not interested. He says he can't even cuddle me if I've said no as he finds it too difficult. Whenever I say none turns his back on me and I feel like I'm being punished for saying No.

I get that he is frustrated but I am not prepared to lay back and think of England. Sex is a privilege not a right. It's my body and if I don't want to I don't have to. Even though he says that he doesn't want me to do it for the sake of it I think he's BS'ing me. He tells me he's a nice person, a good partner, a good dad and that other couples are all having sex though he always refers to sex as making love.

When we are having an active sex life he is ridiculously happy and helpful and affectionate.

I can't stand the sulking behaviour when he's frustrated. He is a hands on father and he does pull his weight round the home. It's just the sex pressure pushing me away. It's getting to the point where I don't want to be intimate with him at all as any contact he sees as a green light to progress a cuddle or whatever is then met with a sulk when I say I don't want to continue.

He does make lots of effort making meals but I'm so cynical that All I can think about is that there is an expectancy at the end of the night which puts me on the defensive and then I end up causing an argument simply to avoid the strop that he will pull when I say I don't want to be intimate because it's only when I get cross about it that he will let it drop and quit going on and on and on about it.

I'm know my sex drive isn't what it was but the sulks and date nights are not helping one bit. I dread any meal or date night. I'm not even sure why I'm even posting.

OP posts:
ouryve · 08/04/2016 21:40

I'm over a day behind with this thread, but all this business about asking for a date on which sexual activity will be resumed makes it sound like sodding roadworks.Hmm

Perseus · 08/04/2016 21:42

Helena - no one knows how long low libido will go on for unless a specific curable/incurable cause is known. Some causes of low libido are just unknown and can go on for years, gradually right themselves or just suddenly disappear as soon as quickly as they arrived. That's what I meant.

Brightling · 08/04/2016 22:07

Ouryve planning a sex night/date night at the moment is pressure I cannot cope with and as you so rightly say is as attractive as roadworks!

OP posts:
ouryve · 08/04/2016 22:13

I can't be happy, long term, in a relationship without sex.

You should never have got married, then.

Perseus · 08/04/2016 22:16

Brightling - " The only complaints I have is the sexpesting and lack of time that I get for myself without anyone with me, on my hip, holding my hand etc. "

Could you ask him to do something to give you a total break for some time each day and/or an afternoon at the weekend you can go out on your own?

That would help you and help him realise how hard you are working?

Glad things have been better this week.

UnderTheGreenwoodTree · 08/04/2016 22:24

I think the worst thing he can do is pressurise you at the moment, OP. Date nights can be great, when you're in the zone with your partner, and everything's good, but you just need time to yourselves away from the children.

But if you're being badgered for sex, you don't feel like sex,- it just ramps the pressure up. No greater turn off IMO. Plus, who wants sex in a marriage to be another chore to tick off? It should be mutual, hopefully spontaneous (dc allowing!) It can't be that if one partner is constantly badgering the other to take one for the team when they don't feel like it. Like I said - no greater turn off.

I can just imagine EntitledMikey's wife: dinner cooked [tick], bins out [tick], dog fed [tick], children in bed [tick], oh god, it's Wednesday! sex night with Mikey [groan]

Brightling · 08/04/2016 22:27

Amen Sheba!

Perseus it's something we have spoken about. It won't be as regular as that due to his work but perhaps quality over quantity time will have to be the goal instead.

OP posts:
marathonmiker · 08/04/2016 22:37

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Brightling · 08/04/2016 22:38

Under that's exactly it.

OP posts:
Brightling · 08/04/2016 22:39

Mike have you adopted the role of goady troll now?

OP posts:
UnderTheGreenwoodTree · 08/04/2016 22:42

FYI - I'm getting laid regularly too, Mike - but I don't have to bully my husband into it nor does he ever bully me into it.

What do you not understand about don't bully people into sex ? It's abusive. Of course people are getting upset about a man describing their abuse to their wife on here.

AnyFucker · 08/04/2016 22:46

Goady twat

moreharmthangood · 08/04/2016 22:49

perseus if I am reading brightlings situation right ...unless it hasn't got this bad yet (and I hope it hasn't -and doesn't) the problem with that is you get your time off but DH expects to be 'rewarded' with sex. That day. Not after you have had chance to appreciate the freedom and start feeling more affectionate towards them.
You get a few free hours and then as soon as you get home you are expected to be gagging for it...and if you aren't you get an even bigger sulk.
And you know it - so your free time comes at a 'price' so instead of enjoying it you start to fret that for some reason you aren't going to be 'up for it'...and the resulting fall out from that.
Say you got a stomach or head ache. Or you walk into complete chaos - you then have to help sort out - which pisses you off. Or the DCs throw themselves on you like you have been away for a year and then won't settle for hours...and you are still exhausted - just want to sleep...
Every nice thing they do for you feels like it has a price attached. So actually you resent that too. And question their motives....
And even if you discuss it beforehand - explain how you feel - you might get a 'break' from pestering for that day but the next time you feel like they are keeping tally ....you can't not feel like it again this time...
I think you have to agree that you will initiate - and you will - time off etc will help you get there but you aren't a robot with an on/off switch.

UnderTheGreenwoodTree · 08/04/2016 22:58

Agree with that, moreharmthangood.

I don't think that in a relationship there should be any quid quo pro about sex - sex is something you do because you both want to. My DH and I have had some seriously dry patches during pregnancy/newborn/breastfeeding stages of 3 dc - it can kill the libido IME- I also had a seriously traumatic birth with DS1, and it took months for me to even think about having sex again.

But guess what? He wasn't a dick about it. So it was a fairly natural thing that it all fell back in place over time. If he'd pulled a stunt like Magic Mikey I'd have packed his suitcase for him. But then, he has consensual and enthusiastic sex now - unlike Mikey and his poor wife, who only does because he threatens her.

Brightling · 08/04/2016 23:02

Moreharm absolutely. It won't be a transaction otherwise it's just another form of pressure.

OP posts:
Perseus · 08/04/2016 23:09

moreharm - I agree with your post.

A kind of 'you go out for a couple of hours and when you get home we can have sex' exchange would be awful and not what I meant at all. Doing something for your spouse should not have a price attached. Ever!

By the way, I read your earlier posts which are breathtakingly awful. I know you have made your choice and I dont criticise you for that but you have one life and children can be happier in a single parent family. I hope you find a better way forward.

HelenaDove · 08/04/2016 23:11

No Mike Im not "getting laid" as you so eloquently put it not at all and part of the reason for that is because my husband has an illness that will eventually kill him you vile shit.

NameChange30 · 08/04/2016 23:12

Oh lord. Mike's wife must be happy because she has a nice car "with a full tank of gas"!! Yet again not sure whether to laugh or cry.

We've got some amazing specimens of manhood on this thread, haven't we?! A patronising, sanctimonious know-it-all who thinks he's the only one with any experience, insight, understanding or useful advice. And a selfish, entitled wannabe "alpha male" who derails the thread trying to justify coercing and abusing his wife.

Thank the Lord there are some decent men on this thread and plenty more in real life, or we all really would be the man-haters they accuse us of being.

AnyFucker · 08/04/2016 23:14

Think of it like this. When Magic Mike is swinging his dick around on this thread, he isn't bullying his wife into sex she doesn't want.

Silver linings...

HelenaDove · 08/04/2016 23:17

Good point AF Every cloud eh?

Perseus · 08/04/2016 23:18

AnotherEmma - still slagging me off in every post I see?

Please do feel free to disagree with me and present useful alternative ideas of course. I would be genuinely happy to discuss. Smile

NameChange30 · 08/04/2016 23:20

Yep still slagging Grin

NameChange30 · 08/04/2016 23:21

(Although you flatter yourself that it's every post Grin)

HooseRice · 08/04/2016 23:48

Certain posters on here may have wives that agree to sex on a macro level, yay. I suspect that sex while agreed to may be lacking somewhat.

there's not a chance whatsoever an asshat of that proportion is a decent fuck

his missus is shagging the garden boy, no doubt in my mind

NewStickers · 09/04/2016 00:13

I'm sorry, I a haven't RTFT but I was in exactly your position OP. This is what happened with us:

Dh wanted sex, I didn't. We tried. It was awful a few times. I started to resent him and hated being pressured. He seemed to get hornier and hornier until I felt suffocated and groped.

We talked. I told him about how pregnancy and bf and motherhood had all changed my relationship with my body and my desire for intimacy. But I also didn't want him to end up in a sexless marriage. Actually the turning point was looking up something online that we could both read, about women's sex drives when they have young kids. apparently it's really common for your libido to disappear, sometimes for up to 4 years. Reading it made me realise we couldn't be in the same place for another 3 years (Dd was one ish at the time) and it made him realise that There wS t something 'wrong' with me.

We did three things:1. More time for me during the week, to be on my own and do whatever I want; 2. Made the bedroom more romantic - scented candles, nice music, warm: 3. And we also did put in place a date night every couple of weeks, where we make a nice meal, talk and have sex. Over time, things have got better. Our sex life is still nowhere near as good as it used to be but out intimacy a a relationship is really good. But it's hard. We both acknowledge its a work in progress and something we need to think about together.

The golden rule of date night is that you can always say no, at any point. So it's not an expectation of sex, but an attempt to focus on sex and intimacy a s romance in our relationship. This is not always easy but I don't think either of us would be comfortable otherwise.

Sorry if you've heard all this before - I just wanted to tell you what is working for us so far. Also, thus all started for us when dd was a bit older than your youngest, nd no longer bf ing (she was 1)

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