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Relationships

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Would these comments and behaviours be reasonable deal breakers in dating?

348 replies

RedflagGreenflag · 27/07/2026 17:50

I've was dating someone for a few months (met on Hinge, mid 40s)and am reflecting on my standards and self-esteem in the wake of it ending. Which, if any, would be deal breakers or have caused you serious concern?

-made a few silly sexual jokes whilst messaging, before we met eg..I asked him if he played a musical instrument and he made a joke about wanking
-first date in a coffee shop, I removed a long sleeved top as was too warm (had another top on underneath obvs) and he went "wahaaayyy" as if I was stripping
-made a joke about all women having a base level of psycho
-referred to disabled people as "Scopey"
-met a colleague of min at a works do and told me she was "rough" and this is why he doesn't date women from her area
-despite the fact he is on amicable terms with his ex wife, told me laughingly, when she asked for a divorce, that he had called her a "fat old witch" and threatened to take her pension
-told me inappropriate details about his ex including that she was restricted in sexual positions she could do due to bad hip and that she could orgasm immediately from anal sex (he told me this whilst we were in bed by way of praising my comparative flexibility)
-said "You look lovely in your dress; my ex wife never wore them because of her body type"
-met an acquaintance of mine and said "You're naturally beautiful, not like women like that who plaster on the make up"
-when I was trying to encourage him to get o know me better and asked if there was anything he wanted to know about me (cause I had tried to ask him lots about himself) he said "What is the smallest penis out there have encountered?
-told me, in bed, that he had yet to encounter a smelly vagina
-told me he had dumped a woman as her pubic hair was too long (after avoiding having sex with her for weeks)
-shortly after we began a sexual relationship, told me he thought genitals in general were gross and then was annoyed with me when I went a bit quiet and distant for a few minutes after he said that
-first time we had sex, he seemed clueless despite being married before and many relationships. He kissed me for a while and I was expecting some foreplay (I know I could have initiated this but I had lead on taking him up to my bedroom and removing clothes so didn't want to lead ointment everything). Without so much as touching me intimately, he entered me without a condom. He stopped as soon as I told him to and was visibly upset and said he thought I had wanted it as we were naked and he was laying on top of me. He was genuinely upset and I ended up comforting him!
-I disclosed to him that I had been sexually assaulted in a previous relationship. Despite this, he sent me a GIF that appeared to be of a woman being assaulted, face down on the floor and crying..looked like really rough porn but you could only see her face.
-he had some very laddish mates and he said he didn't judge them for sleeping with prostitutes although it was not something he would do. Told me they had all been giggling in the pub about some story about a woman with a massive anus.
-in a weird coincidence, a mate of his turned up at my house to collect something I had listed on marketplace. He arrived 15 minutes earlier that agreed and ex and I were in bed. When ex realised who it was, he got dressed and said hi his mate. he later told me that the incident had been the subject of joking on their group WhatsApp, with one them writing "He was just pulling out of her as he arrived!"

I felt unsettled with him lot. Would the above reasonably explain that? I have very poor self esteem and anxious attachment style and I am trying to work out if there were reasons outside of that which would make others feel insecure in this dynamic. He was affectionate, attractive, a good dad, good to his mum, a professional, kind to animals, funny, lots of friends and very keen on me. He would send gushing messages and romantic songs and GIFs a lot. He seemed quite future -focused with wanting to progress the relationship quickly. He made me feel very chosen. He was not the type to ask me things about how many men I had slept and liked natural-looking women. So there were lots of good things about him too.

OP posts:
BauhausOfEliott · 27/07/2026 21:07

RedflagGreenflag · 27/07/2026 18:47

Isn’t that good stuff?

No. It’s the absolute bare fucking minimum standard that made him a human being rather than, eg, a tapeworm. If your bar is that low, you need serious help.

Zucker · 27/07/2026 21:14

Christ on a bike, that's some man for one man.
Chances are he only has the child 50% of the time so he doesn't have to pay child support! He gets on well with the ex because he's obviously made it clear if she doesn't play nice he'll cut off all access,for her, to the step child.

He's not a nice guy, he's absolutely disgusting.

I am laughing at him pretending to be all nervous and vunerable when he was pretending he didn't know what decent sex was. He was caught being a crap shag and so early on he still had to pretend he cared what you thought about him.

RedflagGreenflag · 27/07/2026 22:05

He was genuinely nervous about the sex.

OP posts:
starryeyed19 · 27/07/2026 22:08

HE was nervous?! No one CARES. He has behaved terribly. TERRIBLY.

BauhausOfEliott · 27/07/2026 23:07

RedflagGreenflag · 27/07/2026 22:05

He was genuinely nervous about the sex.

So what? He’s absolutely repellent and a textbook misogynist.

TallagallaPenguin · 28/07/2026 00:01

The good points are mostly fine. But the bad points are way way bad. They are not balanced out in any way. Sure he might be nervous, but he’s extremely immature and pretty crude. He’s done an awful lot of telling you things he doesn’t like to make you feel better that you’re not in those categories. Natural looking women but criticising their pubic hair. Avoiding “women like that from a rough area”. Proudly telling you he’d called his ex wife a fat old witch. Describing disabled people as “scopey”?!? I wouldn’t want to admit to knowing him, never mind partnering up with him. Throw this one back. He’s unkind and unpleasant about a lot of people - him not choosing you yet to go in that category doesn’t make him a green flag.

Switherings · 28/07/2026 00:09

RedflagGreenflag · 27/07/2026 22:05

He was genuinely nervous about the sex.

But so what? He’s shit at it, and a dreadful human being.

GOATYOAT · 28/07/2026 01:35

Why didn't you run a mile at just ONE of these things? Genuinely, why did you continue with him? Don't you deserve better?
There are lots of things worse than being alone and without a man...this man is one of them!

AntiHop · 28/07/2026 01:55

I couldn't get to the end of your list as I had to stop reading. What an awful man.

Darragon · 28/07/2026 02:00

Why did you repeat all of that in such great detail OP? You knew full well it was disgusting. You could have said “inappropriate sexual comments about his ex wife and comparing me to her” instead of that disgusting drivel about anal sex. 🤢 You clearly delight in grossing people out so you two deserve each other.

MeanwhileinGilead · 28/07/2026 02:10

Um, so - especially given that it was a pretty short term and not serious relationship, any single one of these things would make me end it and not see him again:

-made a joke about all women having a base level of psycho
-despite the fact he is on amicable terms with his ex wife, told me laughingly, when she asked for a divorce, that he had called her a "fat old witch" and threatened to take her pension
-told me inappropriate details about his ex including that she was restricted in sexual positions she could do due to bad hip and that she could orgasm immediately from anal sex (he told me this whilst we were in bed by way of praising my comparative flexibility)
-I disclosed to him that I had been sexually assaulted in a previous relationship. Despite this, he sent me a GIF that appeared to be of a woman being assaulted, face down on the floor and crying..looked like really rough porn but you could only see her face.
-he had some very laddish mates and he said he didn't judge them for sleeping with prostitutes although it was not something he would do. Told me they had all been giggling in the pub about some story about a woman with a massive anus.

These things would make me consider calling the police:

-first time we had sex, he seemed clueless despite being married before and many relationships. He kissed me for a while and I was expecting some foreplay (I know I could have initiated this but I had lead on taking him up to my bedroom and removing clothes so didn't want to lead ointment everything). Without so much as touching me intimately, he entered me without a condom. He stopped as soon as I told him to and was visibly upset and said he thought I had wanted it as we were naked and he was laying on top of me. He was genuinely upset and I ended up comforting him!

Booboobagins · 28/07/2026 02:21

All those plus points still put him at a negative tariff for me.

Well done for getting shut. I'd have probably done it a lot sooner. He's still a child, sadly, with his mates egging each other on...

ParkParade · 28/07/2026 02:39

Not a fan. The very first one is something I would expect an immature teenager to say not a grown man with a child.

The list just got worse from there.

For me my last date was a long time ago and if DH had sprouted anything like this and talked of his ex during sex, that would be it.

He sounds exhausting I couldn’t handle not only him saying these things if you don’t overthink them, but just sounds like a juggling act. You are a few months in and he sounds like a handful.

His ex clearly had enough of him. Why are you sweeping up the rubble?

iamnotalemon · 28/07/2026 03:48

He sounds awful. Even one or two points would be bad enough.

JesseDavisGonnaHangOnInThereNSoul · 28/07/2026 04:50

He's a fucking idiot!! Jettison the fool into the big blue yonder🙋twat.

MarthaLovesLaughing · 28/07/2026 05:40

RedflagGreenflag · 27/07/2026 22:05

He was genuinely nervous about the sex.

And?

Hes an absolutely vile yuk bag

Get rid today

Themoonisntaballoon · 28/07/2026 05:46

The first comment would have done it for me !

Raise the bar OP and slap these creeps down when they first start. Then they might learn to amend their behaviour (hopefully).

Duvetdayneeded · 28/07/2026 05:48

Sorry but are you stupid? All the examples are clear reasons to dump him yet you think he’s ‘good’… have some standards for goodness sake. Are you that desperate to believe he loves you after 6 dates..

Chickadee26 · 28/07/2026 06:41

This cannot be real.

CypressMoon · 28/07/2026 06:46

RedflagGreenflag · 27/07/2026 18:24

I suppose I saw the whole package and there were significant good points too. I thought the fact that his ex wife is still friendly with him (because she wants to maintain contact with his son/her step son) and that he looks after his mum must mean that he doesn’t really hate women.

Raise your bar. He doesn't hate all women is not a plus point. it's an absolute base line.

RedflagGreenflag · 28/07/2026 06:53

Thank you for the responses. I have really questioned myself as I’ve felt insecure and emotional lately and wasn’t sure if this is just me being anxious or if there were genuine reasons most women would feel that way with this stuff happening underneath all the romantic messages and intense declarations of feelings from him. In person, he is warm, quite charismatic, an engaging story teller and intelligent.

OP posts:
ThatAquaRobin · 28/07/2026 06:54

There is nothing good here. Nothing. Emotionally immature, gross sexualised comments.
DOI- I love sex but this man is gross.

Having his son 50% of the time is standard parenting, not worthy of any sort of special recognition.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 28/07/2026 06:55

What did you learn about relationships when you were growing up ?

You are not emotionally safe enough to go on dates and you’re ending up with the dregs of humanity like the specimen you described. Your boundaries here skewed by poor life experience and past poor relationships are most unhealthy and are putting you at risk.

Read Women who love too much by Dr Robin Norwood.

Love your own self for a change and get therapy to address both your low self worth and anxious attachment (both of which likely started in childhood). Do not date at all until you have done this.

Changingforthisone66 · 28/07/2026 07:25

Ive read only the posters updates and can't believe that anyone would consider dating this man. It sounds like OP will continue to date him because he's nice to his mum. OP seriously, raise the bar for yourself. If you had a DD would you want this for her? He sounds absolutely revolting.

SlightlyTerrifiedButPolite · 28/07/2026 07:32

He sounds vile, objectively so.

You haven’t overreacted. Relationships are rarely all bad (the better traits you mention) but ultimately it’s about the gut check and he left you feeling unsettled.

But for future reference: even without objectively bad behaviour from a partner, if something doesn’t feel right or click it’s completely reasonable to walk away and look for something that feels a better fit xx