Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

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

Is he trying?

53 replies

Hamseven · 12/11/2022 20:19

My husband and I have been going through a good patch for about 3-4 months. But going back to summer 2021 to spring 2022 we had a really horrible patch.
Basically he will go off on one at the slightest thing - dinner cooked wrong, given the wrong directions - anything. He will shut down and ignore me completely for 2-10 days. He won't go anywhere but will just not speak. He says he knows this is wrong and is trying not to but this weekend it's started again. It really upsets me. I try to take no notice but I get so cross and then snap at him or been him to speak to me which he completely ignores but I know it adds to the hours of silence.
We both have very busy jobs and work full time but I'm expected to make his breakfast lunch and dinner every day. He does help with some jobs around the house though.
I'm not perfect. I have no sex drive which he hates but didn't help me feel good about myself. But he does get a bj every night. And I'm very messy!
We have two kids. I'm just not sure I can keep being ignored. But when I get to tipping point things improve.

OP posts:
Quiegal · 13/11/2022 08:56

Hamseven · 13/11/2022 08:50

Like 20 years Ago though. We got married 12 years ago

It doesn't give him the right to treat you bad. If he can't forgive you then it's over.
You have been punished enough.

Speak to someone tommorow.

2catsandhappy · 13/11/2022 09:25

The day you married you started together with clean slates.
2 years for debt management sounds like a reasonable time to make leaving plans.
He sounds childish and manipulative. He has talked about his unreasonable behaviour but not backed it up with actions. Which means he really thinks that you are the problem.
It is horrible second guessing what you have 'done wrong' this time. I am very familiar with the knotted stomach.

Is he trying to bully you into initiating a divorce? Or does he truly think you have zero choice but to stay?

Hamseven · 13/11/2022 09:31

2catsandhappy · 13/11/2022 09:25

The day you married you started together with clean slates.
2 years for debt management sounds like a reasonable time to make leaving plans.
He sounds childish and manipulative. He has talked about his unreasonable behaviour but not backed it up with actions. Which means he really thinks that you are the problem.
It is horrible second guessing what you have 'done wrong' this time. I am very familiar with the knotted stomach.

Is he trying to bully you into initiating a divorce? Or does he truly think you have zero choice but to stay?

I think he actually wants us to be together.

OP posts:
Teaandtoast35 · 13/11/2022 10:00

“He does help with some jobs around the house though.

I'm not perfect. I have no sex drive which he hates but didn't help me feel good about myself. But he does get a bj every night.”

OP, let’s pick this apart — firstly, it’s his house. He’s not a child with a chore list.

Secondly, you do not have to be perfect to be treated well in a relationship - no one is!

Third, I’m sorry to make wild guesses but my guess is you do have a sex drive, but fancying someone who treats you like a slave is beyond it.

Fourth, stop doing that now.

Your whole post disturbed me but Jesus that last line about BJs made me jump out of my seat. Whether you were a 13 yo girl or a 35 yo woman I would say the same: you should never do anything sexually you don’t want to do. Why are we okay at telling this to teens but not to ourselves?

He has coerced you into being his slave and prostitute, and the last few months were a game where he plays “good guy” for a while until he feels you no longer need placating.

Im in a similar position but not as bad, and I’m leaving. You can see my thread if you like.

It’s not your fault, men like this are very manipulative. But now you’ve woken up (you’re posting on here so I think you have), the question is: do you act on this knowledge?

For me, I woke up last month when I read Why Does He Do That? By Lundy Bancroft. I could never unsee the problem now. It’s given me strength. There is like a veil of knowledge in front of his face every time he talks. All the behaviour I thought was loving… much of it is fake, just done quickly and sloppily to placate me before he does back to doing whatever he wants to do - not me, usually stuff on his phone.

layladomino · 13/11/2022 10:05

You cheated 20 years ago. You then got married. That means he must have forgiven you and moved on. Otherwise why did he marry you?

You can't take the blame for all of his awful, abusive behaviour. You did something wrong 20 years ago, before you were married. If he couldn't move on from that, then the right thing to do would have not to have married you. Instead he chose to marry you and spend his life punishing you. (Although I imagine he was already abusive, and you cheating on him gave him something to guilt-trip you for the rest of your days. He would have been like he is even if you hadn't cheated.

If you cheating 20 years ago is still making him unhappy then the right thing to do is split. But really, this isn't about what you did before you were married. He is abusive, and you can't make someone abusive. That's who he is.

You can't see it now, but for those of us reading your words, we can see that's what he is. And he is damaging you and your children's lives.

Teaandtoast35 · 13/11/2022 10:08

Oh and the book has a lot on how this behaviour affects children — they often are more bonded with the abusive parent because they (like you) both fear him and also have to do lots to make him happy. They almost always replicate this in their relationships - girls getting with abusive men and boys acting like their fathers. This really struck me. I had an angry, moody dad, and now I have angry, moody partners! No more for me. And I can’t afford the house either, so I’m moving back to my parents. I think you’d all be better off in a peaceful flat with no one making you all work for him, than in your house and so enslaved that all your follow up posts on here are excuses for why he deserves to have all his meals cooked, a bj every night, and to have moods that make you scared but you still give him every minute of your too short life.

beastlyslumber · 13/11/2022 10:18

This is so unbearably sad and grim, OP.

You deserve better than this.

Your children deserve to not be brought up in an abusive household.

Think about what you and your husband are modelling for them. Is this the kind of relationship you want to see your kids in?

I know you don't want to end it. But that's the only honest advice anyone can give you. No one is going to tell you how to better tolerate his abuse.

Ratherdampdownstairs · 13/11/2022 10:48

To be blunt…
*the silences are emotional abuse
*the bj- you have been conditioned over the years to believe this is normal behaviour, it isn’t, it’s sexual abuse.
Your life and your children’s lives will be so much better when the scales fall from your eyes and you realises he doesn’t love you, but himself.

monsteramunch · 13/11/2022 11:18

beastlyslumber · 13/11/2022 10:18

This is so unbearably sad and grim, OP.

You deserve better than this.

Your children deserve to not be brought up in an abusive household.

Think about what you and your husband are modelling for them. Is this the kind of relationship you want to see your kids in?

I know you don't want to end it. But that's the only honest advice anyone can give you. No one is going to tell you how to better tolerate his abuse.

I agree.

Your poor kids. They're being set up for an adulthood of unhealthy, unhappy relationships because they think yours is normal and acceptable.

Hamseven · 13/11/2022 11:30

I have none I can ask for help. My mum is dead and I have very little relationship with my dad. I have no friends. My life is my kids, my work, my husband and his family.

OP posts:
beastlyslumber · 13/11/2022 11:35

Talk to women's aid. You don't have to make any kind of immediate decision. But you can start to crawl your way out. There's light at the end of the tunnel, but I think you don't yet realise you're in a tunnel and not just a big hole.

Sorry, bit of a convoluted metaphor! Just start digging a little bit. You can get out of this.

beastlyslumber · 13/11/2022 11:36

Also, people on this board will help by listening and giving advice and sharing their own experiences. You're not alone.

MermaidEyes · 13/11/2022 11:37

Alcemeg · 12/11/2022 22:01

2-10 days of martyrdom-torture!!!!!!!!!
A blow job every night?!?!?!??!?
Three meals a day, no questions asked!?!?!??!?!?!?

OP, I think it's time you discovered the joys of being single. I honestly don't think you'd ever miss all this shit.

This! I feel like I've just gone back to the 1950s. You deserve better op, and I think deep down you know that.

pinkyredrose · 13/11/2022 11:48

I'm not perfect. I have no sex drive which he hates but didn't help me feel good about myself. But he does get a bj every night

🙄

How can you bring yourself to touch him after the way he treats you? Why would you suck him off when you have no sex drive?

We both have very busy jobs and work full time but I'm expected to make his breakfast lunch and dinner every day. He does help with some jobs around the house though.

How the actual fuck can you bear to be near him? Your DC are learning how men treat women, would you like them to end up in marriages like this?

pinkyredrose · 13/11/2022 11:52

How old are the kids? What would happen if you didn't make his meals, answer the phone to him or suck his dick?

Quiegal · 13/11/2022 11:55

@Hamseven

I even rang telling woman's aid what my ex did to me. They told me he financially abusing me.

My situation wasn't even as bad as you.

You will be kept away from him police will put restrictions on him. There is plenty of help for you. I know it's scary.

I went through homelessness and council wanted me to go back but a lawyer managed to get council to help. Although a refuge might be better I was put in B&B then temporary flat and the my permanent place. But it might be that it all happens quickly.

If he wants to see your children maybe supervised visits.
You say he wants you together because your allowing the abuse and he knows how to manipulate you.

All I know it's your call here. A lot of people I know been through this and they are much happier now.

Hamseven · 14/11/2022 17:53

I spent yesterday in tears as I read these messages. I feel so guilty and selfish but then today he's staying to speak to me and I'll feel like it will all be ok but then I read this back and I know its not true.

OP posts:
Watchkeys · 14/11/2022 18:19

Hamseven · 13/11/2022 08:48

I've caused most of the problems. Years ago before we got married I cheated in him and no he had real trust issues. Understandably.

That's not how it works. If he was psychologically healthy, he'd have recognised that he couldn't continue a trusting relationship with you, and left. It's not tit for tat. It's not that you did something wrong and now he can treat you poorly for the rest of your life.

He is causing the problems because he is choosing to be with you and behave the way he does. Those are his choices, and his responsibility. They are not linked to anything you have ever done, or are currently doing.

You are enabling him to cause the problems because you continue to put up with his behaviour. You can leave. There will be support out there for you, as an abuse victim. But first you need to accept that he is emotionally abusing you, and possibly sexually abusing you too, if you're feeling coerced into sexual acts you don't want to perform. You have to admit it. You have to realise that being treated this way is down to him choosing to treat you this way, and not down to you cheating on him years ago.

Watchkeys · 14/11/2022 18:27

What was your parents' relationship like when you were growing up? You've learned somewhere that your relationship looks something like a normal relationship, and that will be to do with what you've seen, and what has been your own 'normality'. Was your Dad nice to your Mum? Respectful? Loving? Was he nice to you? Did you feel like your feelings were looked after whilst you were a kid?

RandomMusings7 · 14/11/2022 18:32

A bj every night even if you have no sex drive? Fuck that, you're not a sex toy.

The silent treatment is emotional abuse.

supercali77 · 14/11/2022 18:55

He also had a choice to either leave or stay with you after you cheated. That doesn't give him the right to spend the remaining years abusing you.

A blow job every night is not ok if you aren't personally enjoying it. And offering it when he's in a strop still - why? He doesnt deserve a bloody thing

And making all his meals, he's a grown man

Its not your job to be his mother and sex aid all rolled into one. Your problem is you're under his control financially. Can you get a better job?

CallmeCath · 14/11/2022 19:10

Op, this is such sad reading. I really do not know what to say. This reminds me of a boyfriend i had in the early 90's when i was young, massively insecure and desperate to please. We were together 3 yrs and i see now he was awful and largely on coke. He sounds either depressed, some kind of underlying personality disorder ( the whole ignoring for days on end is just nuts and designed to put pressure on the other being ignored) or a massively selfish messed up prick.

Was he previously a good loving husband? If so, something has changed. What? You say "good patch", does that mean most "patches" are and have been bad? What do YOU consider a good patch?

The whole giving a bj every night has reignited something in me. I used to give my ex a bj every night and wake him up with one each morning, to please him. I never had anything back even though i very much sexually wanted him at the time. It all just got very transactional, he then started to come in my mouth, then i started to swallow to make it more exciting for him. I see now i was being used, nothing in it for me at all in the end, just his sexual satisfaction. I am ashamed to say he ended the relationship but if it were now, i am a very different person, self assured and confident and i would never allow this for myself and would have binned him way before it got to this stage. Folly of youth

I am divorced now ( not the 90's boyfriend) but my ex husband , he would never ever have treated me like this. He was selfish yes but not sexually in this way, more in the time he allowed for himself and the choices that suited him and not our family. I left, I finally had boundaries.

I have spent years evaluating what i have allowed over the years. I am ashamed to say that as a younger woman i had no self worth , i had no strong family influences, my mum was a mess due to MH issues and my Dad was a womanising arsehole. It has taken me almost 40 yrs to see value in myself. I am reaping the rewards now.

It has taken me decades to see my worth and my value. I think Op , you need to see your own worth and value. As for the bj's , fook that. Stop now, if you do not want to perform them. You are afraid of something, being left alone? Financial worries? Not coping alone as a single parent?The blow jobs are currently protecting you from /delaying what what? Him leaving? He is no loss

CallmeCath · 14/11/2022 19:16

"I have none I can ask for help. My mum is dead and I have very little relationship with my dad. I have no friends. My life is my kids, my work, my husband and his family".

Your life is yours and your children's. You have yourself. You have all you need to get by, trust me.

Hamseven · 14/11/2022 19:51

Watchkeys · 14/11/2022 18:27

What was your parents' relationship like when you were growing up? You've learned somewhere that your relationship looks something like a normal relationship, and that will be to do with what you've seen, and what has been your own 'normality'. Was your Dad nice to your Mum? Respectful? Loving? Was he nice to you? Did you feel like your feelings were looked after whilst you were a kid?

I had a strange childhood. I don't remember a lot of it and I'm not sure why. I'm pretty sure it was quite messed up and my brother ended an abusive marriage two years ago. I'm pretty sure I was securely abused by my brother too. My mum and dad seperated when I was 11 and then my mum had a series of strange lesbian relationships until she became very ill.
My mum was very controlling until her death. She was manipulative and liked to make me feel guilty so. I would take her in holiday and spend more time with her.

OP posts:
Watchkeys · 14/11/2022 20:34

Can you see any patterns re your current relationship and your relationship with either of your parents when you were growing up? Or in the way your dad treated your mum? You've picked this up somewhere, this feeling that a person has to put up with a certain level of ill treatment, and that that's just standard human behaviour.

It's not, you know. Some people... many people, live in kind, friendly, sweet, loving households where nobody feels pissed off and nobody is holding anything over anybody else. You do know that, don't you? Or do you think that's just a fairytale fallacy? Why don't you think you could have that? What stops you making different choices from the one you make to stay with him, to give him a bj, to put up with him ignoring you?