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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 demands we have sex every 3 days

509 replies

WilyOdysseus · 20/11/2023 18:05

This is a long, on-going, in-depth one but I will start with the most important information; My boyfriend and I have been together 12 whole years (we started dating when we were 16). The past year or so we have had huge problems in regards to how much he wants to have sex. He says he “needs” to have sex at least every 3 days (or twice a week) in order for him to not be angry or resentful of me. The pressure and quota he has put on this has made me want to have sex way less, as he is usually pestering me, angry with me, or being passive aggressive with me if we have gone longer than 3-5 days. Still, we usually have sex at least once a week.

We have ALWAYS had sex once a week, sometimes two, and occasionally 3 times a week. This has been the norm for our whole entire relationship. I would say the average is every 5-7 days for us. The lowest is once every 10 days because of illness or if I am on my period or whatever. At first he would just sulk when I said no, then he would become angry or ignore me. Several times he would ruin whole entire dates or days we had alone together if his early suggestion of sex was not met with me emphatically saying “YES!” At the early suggestion.

Another fact, he doesn’t live with me by his own choice. He lives with his mom (we are 29 now) I have begged him for years to move in with me, or make some sort of commitment to our relationship for over a decade now and he has never made any attempt at moving out of his moms house. So now, after a year of this ongoing conversation of him being pissy when we dont have sex every 3 days, he has started to say to me things such as “The reason I never moved in with you is because we aren’t having sex as much as I want to, i just never told you that was the reason, or that that was never enough for me” then implies he wont forward our relationship if he cant be sure we will have sex as much as he wants to. He is absolutely sure that he cant function normally if we only have sex every 5-7 days and always mentions that “a lot of people have sex every other day, why is it such a big deal to you to just have sex with me every 3 days” He also says that he cant live with me if he doesn’t have sex often because being around me just makes him tooooo damn horny, and that he would rather never have sex with me than have sex with me once a week because that one times “makes my body think i will get it everyday”…. Ehh….. idk its even more confusing than that but I will at least start with that.

Im having a hard time conveying to him that his actions are hurting me and make me feel like a sex doll. Even more, make me not want to be around him because I know I will be constantly pestered or guilt tripped. I have put SO much of my life on the line to be in a relationship with him, but I have no idea how to get him to see how hurtful he is being. I also dont know if its normal for me to just have sex with him when i dont want to just in the hopes that he will want to move in and actually be in a real functioning relationship with me. Or he is just a loss and I should try to move on from the 10 years of effort I’ve put into him.

OP posts:
Desperatelydoomscrolling · 20/11/2023 18:22

I can't think of a bigger turn off. You do realise if you beg him enough to move in with you you are condemning yourself to a life of dancing to his tune so he doesn't sulk and be angry at you? Don't give another person that level of control over you, you are worth so much more than that.
This guy is desperately selling himself as a prize when in reality the only winning would be you walking far far away and leaving him to rot in his mams spare room with his porn and crusty socks.

YAFP · 20/11/2023 18:22

If you stay with him, whether he moves in or not, you will be miserable because he’s a manipulative bastard. Dump him, be glad you don’t live together as he’s made splitting a lot easier.

There’s a happier life out there for you without this repulsive little sex pest!

WrylyAmused · 20/11/2023 18:22

Really sorry, but don't get caught up in sunk costs. Yes, you should definitely move on. Hopefully at some points in those ten years you had fun, but now it's clearly time for you to move on to someone more compatible with you for the future.

You're not compatible, and you having sex you don't want won't magically make him want to move in or be able to have a functional relationship with you. It hasn't in the last 10 years.
Read that again. Now wonder why you would ever have thought that having sex with someone would make them a better/different person, or change any other aspects of their personality. It doesn't work that way.

So many people make the mistake of making a bigger commitment with someone who has already shown themselves to be incapable of being a decent person in a relationship. It doesn't change who they fundamentally are. You know who he is, and he's not great. Best to move on than invest more in a bad deal.

It won't get better, you will be resentful, he'll be angry, resentful, controlling (he is already).
It's not anyone's fault that you have different sex drives, that's quite normal. His response to having a higher sex drive, however is intensely immature, needy, coercive, manipulative and controlling. Plus deeply unattractive, of course.

A decent guy would understand, and either accept it, or at most find romantic, non-pressured ways to gently try to change your mood to more receptive - like cooking you dinner, doing things to help you out so you have more time to relax and maybe feel in the mood, making interesting conversation and being interested in your life, complimenting you in a genuine, not sleazy, way, offering hugs or massage just for the pleasure of touch without there being a very obvious sexual agenda etc etc.

And a decent guy, even if he did all the above, and you still weren't in the mood, would also just accept it calmly and not get pissy or otherwise cause problems.
There are decent guys out there, and you've got plenty of time to find one, but you need to stop investing time in this loser now.

RaininSummer · 20/11/2023 18:23

Move on. You are plenty young enough to find a nice man and have a family together if that's what you want. If not he will still be being an arse as your 30s pass by.

SophieB0012 · 20/11/2023 18:24

Please do some research on the sunk cost fallacy:

”The Sunk Cost Fallacy describes our tendency to follow through on an endeavor if we have already invested time, effort, or money into it, whether or not the current costs outweigh the benefits”

Reading about it may help to change the way you’re thinking about this situation and your relationship. It sounds like you seriously need to get rid of this guy!

Xmaswomble · 20/11/2023 18:24

Yes, you should deffo have sex with him whenever he wants so that he leaves his mums house and you can become his new mum. Who he shags.

Honestly, some people…..

SharedAccountWithMySister · 20/11/2023 18:24

Ooooh a sulking sex pest whose mother still washes his skid marked boxers.

What a catch!

Blueeyedmale · 20/11/2023 18:25

Demands=big red flag time to leave!

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 20/11/2023 18:25

I just want to say that you haven't 'wasted' those ten years. They've given you experience, shown you what truly dreadful people there are out there and what they are capable of. They've enabled you to realise what you can and will put up with and what you won't. They've hopefully shown you that you know where to draw a line.

Time is never wasted. Life is learning curve. Learn from this and move on.

theconfidenceofwho · 20/11/2023 18:25

MonkeyPuddle · 20/11/2023 18:08

Just leave the arsehole.
You don’t have to have sex with anyone when you don’t want to and you don’t deserve anger when you say no.

This!

Dump him! You deserve better!

exexpat · 20/11/2023 18:26

Buy him a fleshlight as a farewell present (you might even get a Black Friday bargain from Ann Summers if you use a link on here) then go and enjoy your freedom.

CrapBucket · 20/11/2023 18:26

Love, run a fucking mile. What an awful man.

Switcher · 20/11/2023 18:26

He is a total wanker who doesn't love you, but I think you know that.

Switcher · 20/11/2023 18:27

He is a total wanker who doesn't love you, but I think you know that.

zeibesaffron · 20/11/2023 18:27

Why the hell are you putting up with this shit - tell him to get stuffed, you are worth more than this!! Take some time to work on you and your self esteem- build yourself up!! He is a total dick!!

Wisenotboring · 20/11/2023 18:27

Please dump this man. You are only 28...you are at the very beginning of your life! What an exciting and potential-filled time you have ahead of you. Be thankful you haven't got further entwined with this man and also have no children. Dump him, move on and if and when you are ready, enjoy a new relationship with an actual grown up who doesn't apply sexually coercive tactics to get some. You can do so much better.

Optionyougot · 20/11/2023 18:27

Fucking hell. There is nothing you could say about this man that would make me say anything other than dump him.
He's manipulative, moody and sexually coercive.
Don't waste any more time on him.

Restinggoddess · 20/11/2023 18:28

Congratulations you have a man child

He lives with his mum who no doubt does all his washing ( so he has time and energy in his hands)
He sees you - not as a life partner but solely as a sexual object

What is it with men that think getting angry or sulky will result in sex???

I didn’t read all of this because I have read so many of these articles and I think the OP usually knows what to do but needs us all to say it

You deserve better

He is using you- time to finish this excuse for a relationship

You deserve so much better

Italianita · 20/11/2023 18:28

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Redrose23 · 20/11/2023 18:31

Oh my word….the guys been totally honest and upfront about how he feels. Clearly this has hit a nerve with quite a few here….doesnt sound like a bully to me just being honest about what he wants, I couldn’t live with a partner who didn’t really want sex either, and I would be horny for them, and it would hurt me loads if it was such a chore for them. Besides that, I totally get what he’s saying by he’d rather never have it then be basically rejected for a week at a time. Why does nobody else get it? He’s being upfront, you’re mismatched, not only do you not understand him, but you’ll never be on the same wavelength with sex!

MooseAndSquirrelLoveFlannel · 20/11/2023 18:31

Eeeeewwwww, he sounds revolting. A man child who lives with Mummy but insists on sex to his demands totally ignoring your wants, needs and desires.

Dump him, don't waste another 12 years on someone who considers you as nothing more than a sex doll.

Grimchmas · 20/11/2023 18:33

@Redrose23 did you miss the bit where he sulks and punishes her when she doesn't put his desire for sex above her own needs?

MooseAndSquirrelLoveFlannel · 20/11/2023 18:34

Redrose23 · 20/11/2023 18:31

Oh my word….the guys been totally honest and upfront about how he feels. Clearly this has hit a nerve with quite a few here….doesnt sound like a bully to me just being honest about what he wants, I couldn’t live with a partner who didn’t really want sex either, and I would be horny for them, and it would hurt me loads if it was such a chore for them. Besides that, I totally get what he’s saying by he’d rather never have it then be basically rejected for a week at a time. Why does nobody else get it? He’s being upfront, you’re mismatched, not only do you not understand him, but you’ll never be on the same wavelength with sex!

Because he's using his "need" for sex as a means to punish the person he loves.

No comprise, just have sex with me or I'll make your life hell by punishing you and being angry.

That is not how a loving partnership works.

There are lots of reasons OP maybe couldn't meet his demands week in, week out and it sounds like he wouldn't give two shits about that.

nocoolnamesleft · 20/11/2023 18:35

So, he's emotionally abusing you. He's coercing you into unwanted sex. Coerced consent is not true consent. He's blaming you for everything. He's trying to make out he's the victim. And after 10 years he can't even be arsed to leave his mummy for you. You deserve so much better than this. He's a waste of your time and energy.

Doseofreality · 20/11/2023 18:35

You are nothing but his spunk bucket to him. Why stay with the loser and deprive yourself of the chance to be with someone who really loves you?