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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

Your biggest red flag, if you were starting over?

14 replies

Poppy54 · 20/03/2020 22:23

I posted another thread called how can I ever trust again.. about my brand new husband's secret sex addiction.

I'm binning him, obvs. But I am wondering how to ever , ever trust someone again, when the time comes. I was so incredibly unaware here, for so many years. We are just married, and I had no idea.

I think I'll second guess everything now, forever. Wondering, what immediate red flags would stand out to you now, if you were starting over dating? Not even sex or porn related, just what would you be wary of.

I'm aiming to never be caught out again.

OP posts:
mamato3lads · 20/03/2020 22:27

I don't think you can cover every base and never be "caught out" again. People are unpredictable.

Try hard not to let this experience make you cynical and unable to trust. I'm talking from experience when I say I know how hard that is.

Try and move forward with an open heart knowing that you did nothing wrong and that not all men are deceitful, I hope you find someone lovely xx Cake

GilbertMarkham · 20/03/2020 23:01

I'm binning him, obvs.

You're a strong lady.

Many women can't cope with the pain and try to talk themselves into believing he had an addiction, needs counselling, needs forgiving, all men are like that etc etc. They stay and mostly it's futile and self destructive.

There are lots of red flag threads on here if you have a search. As first poster's excellent post said - it's hard to cover all bases though. Sounds like your ex partner lied by omission, lied outright (I never retaliated), covered up etc everything and if he had no obvious red flags, how could anything me have known.

(Do you think he had any red flags, looking back?)

People are all different. You might find you get into a relationship after a while, suspicious and worried that that guy is a cheater, a punter etc. But he may be neirher if those things - however he might have other traits and behaviour that makes him crap partner material, or unsuited to you.

GilbertMarkham · 20/03/2020 23:02

*anyone have known

Waitingforadulthood · 20/03/2020 23:03

I love my husband and am glad I stayed, but that first lie. When he looked me in the eye and proved he could lie so easily, so convincingly, when I knew he was lying. A major red flag that has flown more than once in this relationship. Nothing big- no cheating or debt etc. But equally, if my daughter had one who could lie so easily - I'd tell her to leave

NoMoreDickheads · 20/03/2020 23:03

Looking back, can you see any red flags with your husband?

There are compiled lists of red flags. www.lifehack.org/375731/50-red-flags-you-should-watch-for-your-relationship

Try and move forward with an open heart knowing that you did nothing wrong and that not all men are deceitful,

@mamato3lads I do think it's worth being cautious/protectiong ourselves though, as there are a lot of twats and users around. There's nothing wrong with learning things from the experience that we can apply in future.

@Poppy54 How about thinking about what you would not put up with- and just drawing a line when you see any sign of it, or at least after one chance?

For myself I don't like if people make insulting/mocking comments about your figure or something - it's a sign of disrespect and we can't let them get away with it.

I also had a lover who was sexually exploitative, coercive, manipulative. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/relationships/3800172-Is-it-ok-for-a-lover-to-ask-repeatedly-for-sex-acts-he-knows-you-dont-want

I knew from when I first heard from him that he was sleazy, as one woman put it he's 'pushy and creepy' with many women. He hung around on FB etc until a particularly vulnerable time in my life. So, now if any bloke gives me that spider sense/the creeps I block as soon as possible. With my health I can't risk having them lurking around.

Also my ex had a weir narcissistic habit I've rarely experienced in others- he would declare to some people that he couldn't see/msg us for a while due to his supposed mental health, while still seeing those friends he prioritized. I believe he literally had lists of who was in group 1 or 2 (narcissists always have mental lists of who is currently most useful to them etc) and as I had been raped and was a bit messed up at the time I was no longer pure sexual fun and so I was one of those sent the 'round robin' that I was temporarily binned.

Sadly enough I let him pick me up again when he wanted- I even fought to make him value me again and when I supposedly won his friendship/close friendship I felt honoured! Shock

The temporary dropping I would not put up with again, if I realized someone was doing it (most people probably don't spell it out as clearly as he did. It was a red flag that he was a manipulative user with his eye only on his own feelings.

If someone tried to do that to me now, I'd just go 'nope, I don't have people in my life that do that' and block.

Don't get me wrong, everyone has phases where they don't feel like coming out, but this was somehow different (maybe it was more obvious because I knew he was still seeing other friends regularly several evenings a week.) I suppose again it's a sign of disrespect/they don't value you.

Excuse the long winded post!

NoMoreDickheads · 20/03/2020 23:06

Excuse the typos Smile

GilbertMarkham · 20/03/2020 23:07

I think you're beating yourself up abd putting too much responsibility on yourself to detect something that someone hid and lied about - well.
People get "caught" by things all the time that were hidden from them - from affairs to cross dressing to closet homosexuality to .. gambling to more sinister, criminal things.

It's not their fault they've had the misfortune to get involved with a degenerate, and liar. Normal, well adjusted people aren't thinking about and suspecting things like that.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

YourVagesty · 20/03/2020 23:09

That his first love letter to me was all about him. How great he was. And memorably, how he was a leopard in a cage, and his wife had locked him in it. Grin

I remember being baffled but carrying on because I was a teenager and dumb as a rock.

YourVagesty · 20/03/2020 23:11

Also, he was my teacher, he moved me in within 3 months of his wife leaving and didn't tell his children (who lived in the same house) who I was.

God that was all kinds of fucked up.

GilbertMarkham · 20/03/2020 23:14

Oh I should add that I don't think that people are degenerate because they cross dress or are gay ... I think they are degenerate when they hide it from their partner in a hetero relationship and use them as a beard.

Before I get piled on by the sort of posters who specialise in telling people off and being outraged and disapproving on here.

Eckhart · 20/03/2020 23:15

Gut feeling. It's what I've always ignored, and has always proved right in the end. And let's face it, even if somebody was a good match, having a bad gut feeling would spoil it anyway, right?

You can't ever know 100% But you can put faith and belief in yourself.

NoMoreDickheads · 20/03/2020 23:21

@YourVagesty ZOMG. How are you in yourself now?

Yes, I agree, any signs of narcissism. My one even admitted to having narcissistic traits. There was another when I was 19 who said 'it's tough at the top- there's always someone trying to knock you down.' Grin Grin Grin He was unemployed, he just had a role in a religious society (Wicca.) He was pretty crap too.

@Poppy54 I'm not saying we're to blame for anything of course. Richard Grannon makes a good point that (speaking for myself) people pleasers accept these people repeatedly breaching our consent. I was constantly letting my ex do things I didn't want, or doing things for him I didn't really enjoy. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Maybe this analysis of what's happened doesn't work for you, in which case, feel free to ignore. x

I hope to say 'No' more in future. Some of the things he 'made' me do/I did were disgusting.

Sorry to go on. Smile

Poppy54 · 21/03/2020 11:47

Thanks everyone x

OP posts:
happynowagain · 21/03/2020 12:50

Red Flags galore ..
Few Friends
Poor relationship with family
Hadn't got his shit together( important to me then)
Love bombing
Clingy needy
Lazy at home/ amazing to everybody else
All about him/ talking about himself/ his feelings: his difficulties. Victim always .
Disassociation from his children.
Emotionally unavailable.

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