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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

Boyfriend asked me to leave early for refusing sex

564 replies

Aurelia278 · 27/09/2020 00:22

I took my boyfriend out for his birthday. We spent a day in London all paid for by me (shopping, drinks, fancy steak restaurant) After a few drinks the conversation arose about our sex life and how he wants to spice things up and would like me to initiate sex more, dress up etc. I told him I was open to suggestions. He suggested we start that night and feeling a little tipsy ended up in the late night pharmacy buying condoms.
The whole journey home he was being super affectionate, complimentary which is very out of the ordinary for him. Hes usually a very hands off guy.
By the time i got home I was shattered and uncomfortably full after a 3 course meal and told him that I was simply just not feeling up to it right now.
He went into a giant huff saying that I had ruined the evening and his birthday, it could have been so nice, what was the point of buying condoms etc etc and he even went as far as to suggesting that maybe i should leave his place early in the morning as there was no point me hanging around.
I appreciate he may have been disappointed but after having spent the best part of £300 on a day out for him to be spoken to like that has left me feeling really hurt.
Was I in the wrong for changing my mind? Should I have just got over it and made an effort for his sake?

OP posts:
differentnameforthis · 29/09/2020 10:36

@Teensandfuture

Tell me, what kind of man wants sex with a woman who isn't interested?

FFS If you are in a relationship, then you are interested in having sex with your partner.

Nicely cherry picked. If you read that post properly, you would see it was in response to @Hariboqueen1 saying this : All I’m saying is on my boyfriends birthday but I wasn’t in the mood for sex I wouId do it anyway

A poster, admitting she has had sex when she didn't want to, because it was expected of her. I simply asked why a man would do that to a woman, because it shows that he actually doesn't give a shit about her feelings!! No decent man would carry on if his partner wasn't in the mood.

You don't think sending a partner home LATE AT NIGHT because she didn't want sex is problematic? He is trying to show op her "worth" to him... i.e "I don't want you around if you don't let me fuck you" "you are worthless to me if I can't fuck you"

This behaviour is designed to make op "rethink" her refusal for sex, that her not wanting sex makes him unhappy and she gets consequences, so she won't refuse sex again, therefore she has been coerced into future sex, or else she gets the "consequences" again...

ClementineWoolysocks · 29/09/2020 11:02

@Hariboqueen1

I know this mittens it’s NOT the same at all but people on here are saying that I have been sexual coerced into thinking you should occasionally put some effort in your sex life. Which is just baffling to me.
Jesus Christ woman, are you really this dense? People are trying to tell you that you're talking about two entirely different things and trying to make them the same.
differentnameforthis · 29/09/2020 11:12

If OP would agree to have sex because he said to her "think we're done here if we don't have sex tonight" , that would be coersive behaviour

He actually done opposite - he said I don't want you around, please leave in the morning because I don't feel happy.

They are BOTH coercive. Whether she had sex with him or not after he "delivered" his "ultimatum" he was attempting to get her to have sex, just because she didn't, doesn't mean he wasn't coercing her.

Stop speculating minimising please

Dissapointed =angry =no consent=coersive =rapist

Actually only link between 1st 2 is clear, the rest is made up

If disappointed = an angry response, that = coercive, if that = someone relenting to sex they don't want, that = "sex" without consent, the word for sex without consent = rape.

Relenting isn't consenting.

He actually DID stop. THIS time.. You have no idea how insidious abuse is, do you? Think of it as grooming... he was grooming her not to say no next time...

ploughing through that first hurdle So now not wanting sex is just a hurdle to get over? Right...

My dh is abusive, and I don't want sex with him. He wants sex with me, so I'll just plough through and let him abuse my body as well as my mind, shall I? After all, I probably really just want it, right?

msflibble · 29/09/2020 11:14

@BubblyBarbara
I have "ploughed through" sex when I didn't feel like it to keep DH happy.
It fucked with my head and actually reduced my desire to have any sex at all with him for several months. Now I only have sex with him when I actually want to, and I'm not being psychologically damaged by it.
If you can't say no to sex you can never truly say yes either. People do not owe their partners unwanted sex. It is harmful to the person who feels pressured and it is counterproductive for the whole relationship.

DooRight · 29/09/2020 11:16

Quid Pro Quo - transactional sex is the death kneel for any relationship...
either partner can say "no" for any reason - without this kind of fall out - you are better of out of it...

Mittens030869 · 29/09/2020 11:32

If you can't say no to sex you can never truly say yes either. People do not owe their partners unwanted sex. It is harmful to the person who feels pressured and it is counterproductive for the whole relationship.

^This. It's completely wrong to compare having sex when you're not in mood to placate your partner with doing something else with your partner to please him.

For example, I'm not bothered about steam trains, but I'm happy to go to York Railway Museum with my DH and our DDs because I know it's what he likes. I might not be all that bothered, but it doesn't do any psychological damage. Whereas having sex when not willing would take me back to my childhood where I had no choice in the matter.

CandyLeBonBon · 29/09/2020 12:24

Ffs are teens and haribo STILL spouting their 'surrendered-wives' crap?
No wonder so many women feel they can't say no if this is the bullshit they're being fed? 🙄

AcrossthePond55 · 29/09/2020 20:27

@CandyLeBonBon

Ffs are teens and haribo STILL spouting their 'surrendered-wives' crap? No wonder so many women feel they can't say no if this is the bullshit they're being fed? 🙄
I just came on to post exactly that. "Surrendered wives". Shudder.
6demandingchildren · 29/09/2020 21:05

Anyway, op how are you? Hope the posters giving you advice has helped you.

SoulofanAggron · 29/09/2020 22:20

I wish OP would come back. Sad I know sometimes reading the replies you get to a thread can be hard. A while back I looked back at some threads I made months before I split up with my ex. I wish I had looked at them more at the time- I probably would've split with him earlier. I did PM OP yesterday. @Aurelia278 How's you?

FFS. If you are in a relationship, then you are interested in having sex with your partner. Sometimes more interested, sometimes less. We're not talking here about strangers and rape, although some pps gladly bringing up rape references into this situation.

@Teensandfuture Marital rape is a thing, and illegal in many countries. If your contention that someone in a relationship is always up for it with their partner was true, then it wouldn't be a thing.

It's not coercion either. If OP would agree to have sex because he said to her "think we're done here if we don't have sex tonight" , that would be coersive behaviour {...} Manipulative or coersive behaviour? It's questionable, without substantial evidence.

You say if he'd succeeded in emotionally coercing OP into having sex she didn't want then it'd be coercion in your book. So, to you it's attempted coercion, which you must see is manipulative for sure.

You all here make him sound abusive coercive rapist when in fact he's just a rude twat that doesn't control his emotions well . He wants to have a relationship that will satisfy him sexually, who are you to say he can't have that? Because OP thinks her feelings on the matter more important than his and he's being unreasonable ? His feelings just as important as hers, not more not less.

He's an abusive twat who chooses to display his emotions to make someone feel cajoled into doing what he wants, or to punish them. Yes, someone not wanting to have sex must always, always override someone else's desire to. Otherwise we would live in a society where someone not always giving their partner/a lover sex when they're not in the mood is illegal, rather than the other way around. That would be an utter dystopia. Your opinions are making me feel sick, now.

I've also shared my personal experience about rape, please don't try to tell you have more right to talk about rape and linking it to this scenario then me denying the link exists.

PP's have said their experience of rape/coercion (sexual abuse, one way or another) are just like/similar to the scenario described. Yours is not so when it comes to this particular scenario, no, you don't know what you're taling about. Or at least, you're denying the reality of others' experiences and dismissing it.

ploughing through that first hurdle

Wow, that's so hot I'm surprised they don't show it in porn. Well they probably do- in rapey porn.

if a boundary is crossed you both try to understand eachother and repair the damage.

@Colourmeclear I heartily believe that men aren't thick, they know what they're doing. So, if they ignore a boundary then it's deliberate. Sometimes they can think it's seductive though I suppose (partly through societal training) but it's still ignoring/trying to push at a woman's no.

people on here are saying that I have been sexual coerced into thinking you should occasionally put some effort in your sex life.

@Hariboqueen1 I'd say you've been indoctrinated by society into thinking you should have sex when you don't want it.

If the husband said “hey look I’d really like it if our sex life could be a bit more reciprocal” and approached it in a calm and diplomatic way, totally different.

@Staringpoodleplottingrottie Yep I'd agree with that.

Say a man gives his wife foreplay a few times a week and she enjoys it but she hasn’t given him foreplay in a few months because she can’t really be bothered and doesn’t feel like it. Do you think that’s ok then? Do you not think she’s being lazy and should put some effort in?

Haribo- I think we need to change the whole culture of sex. Foreplay is a chore to give most of the time, and we should't be doing things we don't want. We shouldn't be doing stuff because we think that's what's expected of us in sex, whether we want to or not. But I don't have the answers. Sometimes I might feel like giving oral, but I think I don't most of the time, I do it more as a performance, putting on a good show. (I don't like receiving it at all, so it's not like I'm asking for something I'm not prepared to give.) This has maybe become more so with women of the generation below me (I'm 43) due to the abundance of porn.

I don't think I feel the same about giving oral to a woman, so maybe I'm much more gay than bi, IDK. Not doing things they find a chore/do because they think they should or as a performance would help people be clearer within themselves about what they like or dislike, do or don't really want to do.

Relenting isn't consenting.

@differentnameforthis Spot on.

I also agree with PP's who say doing sexual stuff when you don't want it is psychologically harmful.

NoJudgement · 02/10/2020 12:28

I would like to thank the OP for starting this thread and all the helpful people who have commented.
My bf split up with me last night because I didn't have sex with him due to having stomach ache and heartburn. He said he needs more. It's been over two years and last had sex 5 days ago as we don't live together.
Difference is he ended it in the hope he'd try to persuade me to change my mind and is now accusing me of having a reason to accept him ending it so easily. Apparently he will find out why I'm okay with him ending it! Not sure whether to be scared or not.
This thread has been eye opening, along with an account I follow on Instagram called Lalalaletmeexplain.
I have found some of his behaviour unacceptable for a long time. He tells me he deserves to have a relationship with more sex. Accepted. I didn't deserve to be made to feel shit in the process. I suffer with MH and it does affect me sex drive shamefully so I don't normally feel it more than once or twice a week. He can't accept me for who I am and has made me feel awful for issues out of my control.

billy1966 · 02/10/2020 12:34

@NoJudgement

Good for you.
You are well rid.
I bet you MH will improve with out a sex pest bullying you.
Don't hesitate to flag 101 if you feel in ANY way threatened by him.

I think you will quickly feel better if you stay away from him.

He didn't want to end it, just to bully you.

Well done for stepping away from such an unhealthy dynamicFlowers.

Reach out for support IRL.

Bygone · 02/10/2020 14:52

NoJudgement Flowers Well done, you will feel so much more relaxed.

amethystprimrose · 05/10/2020 11:30

@NoJudgement

I'm glad this thread helped you. I know the Instagram profile you mention, she's very good at explaining how women are often manipulated in toxic relationships.

I hope you stay strong and safe. If the situation escalates with your ex don't hesitate to find support from women's aid.

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