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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

What do you make of this incident with dh?

195 replies

Ncncncncnc · 03/02/2018 21:38

I'm going through a process of trying to work out if my dh is abusive or I'm over sensitive, I have pretty poor boundaries and various issues which I'm working on so it's often difficult for me to tell who is at fault.

I want opinions on this one off incident, without giving any background, if that's ok.

Dh was making dinner tonight and I went for a run. When I came back in he laughed at me in my running gear and said something along the lines of, never thought I'd see the day (I've taken up running fairly recently). He then asked if I was still doing an upcoming race with my sister that I'd mentioned to him. I said I was still running but my sis had to pull out because of an op she is having. He then asked what the op was for and I said "it's personal". He took offence and said "why won't you tell me? You divulge all kinds of information about your labours and post childbirth body to your friends so why won't you tell me what the op is?" I said "it's not about me though is it? It's somebody else's personal stuff, ask her if you really want to know."
He then walked off shaking his head and muttering under his breath "personal...ha!"

Thoughts?

OP posts:
Dramlass · 04/02/2018 00:26

Also, mocking your partner because they're trying to get fit and wearing running gear is shit, nobody deserves to be shamed OP

Graceflorrick · 04/02/2018 00:33

Oh OP, why wouldn’t you trust your DH? Shock

DonkeyOil · 04/02/2018 00:58

The trouble is, once there has been an experience of abuse, you can't just press a button and go back to the 'factory setting' as though the abuse had never happened. Your dh needs to realise that you are always going to be hyper-vigilant for signs of its re-emergence and he should act accordingly, if he wants to preserve your relationship, not mock you and press you for information you have indicated is sensitive.

It is odd that he would want to be told the details of your sister's operation, in any case. In my experience, most men wouldn't actually enquire further if there was any hint that it might involve 'women's problems'! (Hope her op. goes well, btw.)

Hope you manage to find a way forward that protects your happiness and well-being, op.

hadthesnip · 04/02/2018 01:03

Get a life. If you can't discuss these issues with your OH then who can you discuss them with.

If I was your OH the next time you want to talk about you day etc I'd tell you not to bother.

RebelRogue · 04/02/2018 01:24

I get it OP. He's supposed to be on his best behaviour, winning your trust.
Because of the past though you don't quite realise what's normal and what isn't. If this is a normal interaction or a red flag that he still is abusive,just hiding it better and biding his time.

The thing is , this incident didn't happen in a vacuum. That's why it got your back up. You have felt and dealt with the history of this so as silly as some seem to think it is, it's important to you. Sounds to me like you're afraid to make a clean break, but you're also afraid to slip in the same trap again.

The issue with most PP's, is that while they don't have to be dicks, they also don't know the history. In a healthy,normal,loving relationship this incident would not be thought about twice, or even if it was it would be talked about and settled. Something tells me you can't actually talk about it with him and put your mind at rest.

You lost trust...in yourself and in him... regardless of this incident is it really worth it? Flogging a dead horse springs to mind..

TheButterflyOfTheStorms · 04/02/2018 01:24

Has there been a rude arsehole shortage on here that certain posters are trying to address?

myrtleWilson · 04/02/2018 01:24

have you actually rtft had ?

Shen0102 · 04/02/2018 02:09

you've tried to leave him twice and he's promised to change ?

please don't be gullible because people don't change..he will hide his true chatacter temporarily and soon or later it will come out again. you can't teach an old dog new tricks and bad habits die hard !

Leave him! or else you'll never forgive yourself for the time you've wasted & the time you sure as hell never going to get back.

MeAndMyDog · 04/02/2018 05:17

I don't discuss other women's gynecological issues with my DH. I find it odd that so many women do.

I wouldn't care for being made fun of in jogging clothes or when trying something new. In a "normal" relationship, one can say what they like and don't like and have it respected. Even though other people don't mind that sort of teasing, if you don't like but aren't allowed to just say so, then something is wrong.

I think the subtext of the conversation is that he thinks it is laughable for you to try to improve yourself, and you have no right to privacy. Also, your sister needing "personal" surgery is amusing to him.

I can see how these kinds of interactions would wear one down over time. What does he gain through these interactions? Try to follow the power and see what he is getting out of it.

TheStoic · 04/02/2018 06:20

He sounds like a fucking idiot to me. What does he think ‘personal’ means, an ingrown toenail?

cloudchasing · 04/02/2018 06:42

The situation in itself isn't abusive, no. It's just general banter between a couple, imo.

However - the other stuff doesn't sound good. I don't like the way you've been told by him how to deal with his behaviour.

'Use a kind voice'? I'd be telling him to kiss my arse.

In light of the other background stuff, I would say he sounds pretty emotionally manipulative. You also sound like you don't like him much.

cloudchasing · 04/02/2018 06:45

By the way, I'm very open with my dp. But I wouldn't tell him about my sister's personal gynae op, it's not his business, and it's not yours to tell, as you rightly demonstrated. Hope you used your 'kind' voice though Wink

roundaboutthetown · 04/02/2018 07:23

Nobody can tell you anything about intent or motivation from a few reported words, Ncnc. The exchange with your dh could have been perfectly normal and you overreacted, or it could have been him deliberately belittling you, unsettling you and making you feel at fault. Context is everything, one isolated event meaningless to strangers who didn't even witness it. The only glaringly obvious thing is that you do not trust your dh, you do not find him supportive, and that particular interraction was very unsatisfactory.

Backenette · 04/02/2018 07:32

You’re getting a hard time here OP. I think he sounds like an unpleasant dickhead. Mocking you in your running gear? That can fuck off.

What else does he do? As people above have said it’s the patterns that make abuse. A one off slightly proud ‘never thought you’d be running , proud of you dear’ is very different to a mocking remark in a long line of mocking remarks.

You’re obviously on edge and unhappy. Marriages are not killed by single one off remarks, but they are by a steady drip of individually insignificant, but collectively crushing ones.

Is there someone you trust IRL you can talk to about this?

Dh by the way would never ever mock my looks, clothes or press for details I don’t want to reveal. Because dignity and privacy are important. I can’t say if your dh is abusive or not on the back of just the info here but he sounds unpleasant

ALLIS0N · 04/02/2018 07:51

Great post Backenette

bastardkitty · 04/02/2018 08:05

Has there been a rude arsehole shortage on here that certain posters are trying to address?

^ This. Awful.

I wonder why you feel you need 'evidence' OP? If you want to prove to him that he's still being controlling it will never happen. Most probably he has made some kind of faux grudging apology and is seething about it and trying to mask his behaviour. The thing that really matters is how you experience the way he speaks to you. I think it's unusual not to tell a H that information, but you seem to have good reasons for that. The exchange you describe could be gentle banter between a loving couple. Or it could be really unpleasant. The hardest thing about leaving an emotional abuser is trusting yourself and your thoughts and feelings and then acting on them and sticking to it. Usually the reason it's hard is because you may be a person with a lot of self doubts anyway and if you have spent years being undermined, blamed and got at. Asking for validation from others is a step on the journey to leaving (again).

EmyRoo · 04/02/2018 08:06

hadthesnip I suspect you and the OP’s husband would get on like a house on fire.

To be clear, I am writing from the basis that you have been in what you see as abusive with this man in the past. I do not believe after ten years of similar, that they change. The modus operandi changes, but not the person, and I also believe it will slip back to more obvious - and he has already set this up to be your fault by saying you need to gently correct him. Well, no - he is a responsible adult, what is he doing to improve?

CharlotteCollins I hope you are doing well; I remember your situation from older threads. nc I think CharlotteCollins is right that the constant guessing wears you down - I also think it is partly how it works because you are never sure of the ground you stand on. Exhausting.

nc i am just going to dig out one of the EA support threads - they have not run for a good while but there are lots of links in the OP which you might find useful.

The point about leaving, I understand this. I used to say it was a process, not an event. It takes many tries. In the end I had to (metaphorically) don my hard hat and simply walk on through. We are still not divorced (we are in a jurisdiction where childcare arrangements need to be sorted first and surprise, surprise, these cannot be agreed, even much mediation and several court hearings later). He still calls me his wife. I am not his wife in any meaningful sense, what he means is he still has the right (in his mind) to denigrate and devalue what I do and try to bring me to heel.

Anyway, my experiences aside, is this the marriage you want to be in? Do you feel like his wife in a meaningful sense? I wonder if the running is just something you have started to do for yourself, hence he feels threatened by it and wants to devalue your positive steps. But then, as someone said to me, several years ago, on here, you don’t need his -or our - permission to leave.

EmyRoo · 04/02/2018 08:09

‘you’ in my second paragraph refers to the OP, nc - sorry, not clear, in fact well done if it makes sense at all!

AramintaDePea · 04/02/2018 08:43

You sound hard work and on this thread your replies are pretty snippy too.

Cambionome · 04/02/2018 08:58

Have you had some kind of empathy bypass Araminta? Hmm

TheStoic · 04/02/2018 09:05

‘You sound like hard work’ seems to be the ultimate insult on Mumsnet.

Better to be ‘hard work’ than an idiot who can’t think for herself.

Cambionome · 04/02/2018 09:08

Exactly, Stoic.

BertrandRussell · 04/02/2018 09:11

Not abuse exactly......but I hate this idea that couples have to tell each other everything - even other people’s secrets.

saltandvinegarcrisps1 · 04/02/2018 09:18

I think him wanting to know all the ins and outs of your Dsis op is a red flag - you told him it was "personal " - in my experience, a man would take that to mean "womens bits" and know to opt out of the conversation. He was forcing you to tell him stuff just for the sake of making you respond to his demands, not because he actually wanted to know what she was getting done. It is a form of control OP.

AnyFucker · 04/02/2018 09:51

If someone told me I had to reply to them in a "kind voice" they would get the metaphorical finger from me. That's an example of trying to control ypur behaviour. If he doesn't like how you speak to him, he has a choice.