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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Ex is trans, I feel unjustly traumatised

68 replies

Zazzlez · 01/09/2024 01:50

I met my ex (one of many) when I was about 12, we had a up and down relationship during our school years, but after we left it progressed, the thing is I always knew he was cheating on me, but when we were together he would always say "only I would love you, you weirdo!' and as time went on he got worse and eroded my self esteem, he also sexually and physically abused me, I eventually moved away and went to uni as an adult and have made a good life now. Ex has recently contacted me, has come out as trans, denying all accountability for the past (it wasn't me, I don't remember that life!) and I've been called a terf! When I questioned them, I don't know how to feel or what to do, but...I don't know. (Shortened this for an easier read, shit ton more happened)

OP posts:
Ruffpuff · 01/09/2024 01:55

Block them on everything. Don’t give them the satisfaction of blowing all their prior misdeeds away.

You’ve moved on. You don’t need to be dragged into the past or engage in the “new me” era of that person’s life.

IwantToRetire · 01/09/2024 02:12

Ruffpuff · 01/09/2024 01:55

Block them on everything. Don’t give them the satisfaction of blowing all their prior misdeeds away.

You’ve moved on. You don’t need to be dragged into the past or engage in the “new me” era of that person’s life.

Totally agree and am shocked (well not really) that OP's ex would suddently make contact after such a long time to make this "bold" announcement.

Not doubt stupidly thinking OP would affirm this new innocent concoction.

The ego of that alone is reason to ignore / block, as much as not needing to be dragged back to the past.

IwantToRetire · 01/09/2024 02:13

(Shortened this for an easier read, shit ton more happened)

Feel free to vent!

Flowers
crumpet · 01/09/2024 02:18

Why do you need to be in touch with your ex at all - it sounds as if you were treated appallingly when you were together. Block and dismiss from your mind as far as possible. You have a good life now.

Zazzlez · 01/09/2024 02:23

IwantToRetire · 01/09/2024 02:13

(Shortened this for an easier read, shit ton more happened)

Feel free to vent!

Flowers

Oh I could write a memoir based on our relationship! (He was so mad I got Into a better university, he cheated and got her pregnant, they don't pay child maintenance) I'd be here all day!

OP posts:
Toseland · 01/09/2024 02:25

You actually replied to him?!

Zazzlez · 01/09/2024 02:28

crumpet · 01/09/2024 02:18

Why do you need to be in touch with your ex at all - it sounds as if you were treated appallingly when you were together. Block and dismiss from your mind as far as possible. You have a good life now.

Tbf I'm still traumatised from our relationship, so this was a bolt from the blue, my dh knows my history so supports me, we also have friends in common who are active in gay pride and so am I, my bestest oldest friend is gay but im now scared he'll call me a terf in front of everyone.

OP posts:
AlisonDonut · 01/09/2024 02:36

Who cares if he does?

Block him and don't have anything to do with him.

Grizzles · 01/09/2024 02:45

Can I ask why 'unjustly'?

Zazzlez · 01/09/2024 02:59

Grizzles · 01/09/2024 02:45

Can I ask why 'unjustly'?

Huh?

OP posts:
TheSandgroper · 01/09/2024 03:19

He wants you to make him feel good, somehow.

You don’t have to. Just block him and leave him to his sad little life.

XChrome · 01/09/2024 03:21

This is just more abuse. Block. He may indeed try to smear you with other people you both know, so tell them about the horrible things he has done first. Let them know you are telling them because you are afraid he intends try to start trouble for you. I'd put it right on SM for all of them to see if it was me. The whole story. If it's all the truth, he couldn't successfully sue you for defamation.
Do not speak to this twat again. If you see him when you're out and about, pretend he doesn't exist.

JustJoinedRightNow · 01/09/2024 03:50

Zazzlez · 01/09/2024 02:59

Huh?

The poster means from your title, why do you feel unjustly traumatized.
Sounds like you're completely right to feel traumatized

Hectorscalling · 01/09/2024 04:04

This relationship traumatised you. And now this person has got in contact to abuse you again. They are a piece of shit. Not because they are trans but because they are a piece of shit.

What did they want? Why was it so important for them to tell you they are trans? So they could pretend they aren’t responsible for everything they did? It doesn’t work like that. They abused you. They are responsible for that.

This person is an abuser. They are still trying to abuse you and using being trans as an excuse to get away with it. Never speak to them again.

You are traumatised because they abused you and they are trying to abuse you again. That’s not you being ‘unjustly’ traumatised. That is, legitimately, traumatic.

WiddlinDiddlin · 01/09/2024 04:44

The trans thing is the least relevant thing here tbh - being an abusive shit is the salient point really.

They've got in touch to make themselves feel good - they were a shit, and clearly still are a shit.

Block, move on. Their behaviour is nothing to do with you.

Ritasueandbobtoo9 · 01/09/2024 05:20

Block him, if anyone calls you a TERF deny all knowledge and tell them that you have no interest in whatever mental health issue your ex has. You have your own family and ex is no concern of yours. If they say he said x or y just say, please don’t pass any of this to me, it isn’t my concern.

RedToothBrush · 01/09/2024 05:54

So a man who sexually and emotionally abused you, has got in touch to abuse you and scare you by calling you a 'terf', and you are worried that he will call you a 'terf' aspublicly?

First of all, even if he does, so what?

He'd be pretty much demonstrating the fact he's abusive and that what motivates him is abusing women.

If your friends decide to value his opinions over you then they were never friends in the first place. They should be willing to listen to you say he was an abusive ex and I have no idea why he's got in touch to abuse me again.

He is harassing you.

And besides this, your husband knows the history and should be your champion here to anyone who decides to be difficult.

Imagine you had gone to a women's refuge because of his abuse. If you weren't a 'terf' you would be falling to recognise your own abuse and the risk some one like him would pose to a woman if he could just claim to be a woman and stroll into the refuge too.

Being a 'terf' isn't a bad thing. Indeed many women labelled as such precisely because they recognise or have been the victims of abuse and are trying to prevent it. This makes them a threat to men like this. Not because you will deny their existence or refuse to validate them. But because you see them as what they are - abusive men who will never ever be women. And they hate you for it. They hate the women who remind them of that.

When he looks in the mirror he knows he's not a woman. When he actively tracks you down after years of no contact purely to tell you he's trans, he's doing so precisely because he knows he's not a woman and he wants to assert power over you as a woman. That's not the actions of a woman. That's the actions of an abusive man.

You have nothing to feel guilty or shame for. Being called a 'terf' isn't something that you should live in fear of. Precisely because it's about him and power and control.

He's demonstrating the validity and importance of being a 'terf'. Be proud of that and take ownership of the label. Being kind should be about mutual respect. If he's not respectful of you, he's not kind. You don't owe him kindness and none of your friends should expect you to owe him to 'be kind' purely because he's decided to come out as trans. Remember that.

I always say, focus on behaviour and not identity. If behaviour would be unacceptable coming from any other person, then it's not ok. And that's why we shouldn't just blindly give males who don't respect women's privacy, dignity and right to define themselves, this status of being victims. Any person who doesn't recognise why women need single sex protections and sees males who are happy to impose themselves in this situations is not an ally to women... They don't value women. They see women as second class and just there to validate men. They see women as not worthy of having their own traumas acknowledged and recognised.

Ultimately I'd frame it like this for your own sanity:

Your ex is not trans. Your ex is an abusive male trying to abuse you once again whilst hiding behind a skirt to protect him from being called out for being an abusive man. How can you tell the difference between 'true trans' and an abusive male pretending to be trans? And that's why you can't be anything but a 'terf' after he's contacted you out of the blue to abuse you.

Sfxde24 · 01/09/2024 06:08

Should’ve just sent him a thumbs up and ignored. He’ll be looking for people to cheerlead him. I don’t care how people identify but am so bored of people looking to embrace some sort of victim hood to justify their own shitty behaviour and carry on abusing other people.

lordloveadog · 01/09/2024 06:09

An abusive ex contacted you out of the blue to tell you he is now identifying as trans. And if you do not immediately ‘affirm’ and agree that anything he might have done in the past is wiped away by this rebirth, he’s going to insult you and diss you to friends?

Wow, this new pathway to abusive control is even cleverer than I’d realized.

Cut this man off and blank him. Do not interact.

HumphreyCushionintheHouse · 01/09/2024 06:15

RedToothBrush · 01/09/2024 05:54

So a man who sexually and emotionally abused you, has got in touch to abuse you and scare you by calling you a 'terf', and you are worried that he will call you a 'terf' aspublicly?

First of all, even if he does, so what?

He'd be pretty much demonstrating the fact he's abusive and that what motivates him is abusing women.

If your friends decide to value his opinions over you then they were never friends in the first place. They should be willing to listen to you say he was an abusive ex and I have no idea why he's got in touch to abuse me again.

He is harassing you.

And besides this, your husband knows the history and should be your champion here to anyone who decides to be difficult.

Imagine you had gone to a women's refuge because of his abuse. If you weren't a 'terf' you would be falling to recognise your own abuse and the risk some one like him would pose to a woman if he could just claim to be a woman and stroll into the refuge too.

Being a 'terf' isn't a bad thing. Indeed many women labelled as such precisely because they recognise or have been the victims of abuse and are trying to prevent it. This makes them a threat to men like this. Not because you will deny their existence or refuse to validate them. But because you see them as what they are - abusive men who will never ever be women. And they hate you for it. They hate the women who remind them of that.

When he looks in the mirror he knows he's not a woman. When he actively tracks you down after years of no contact purely to tell you he's trans, he's doing so precisely because he knows he's not a woman and he wants to assert power over you as a woman. That's not the actions of a woman. That's the actions of an abusive man.

You have nothing to feel guilty or shame for. Being called a 'terf' isn't something that you should live in fear of. Precisely because it's about him and power and control.

He's demonstrating the validity and importance of being a 'terf'. Be proud of that and take ownership of the label. Being kind should be about mutual respect. If he's not respectful of you, he's not kind. You don't owe him kindness and none of your friends should expect you to owe him to 'be kind' purely because he's decided to come out as trans. Remember that.

I always say, focus on behaviour and not identity. If behaviour would be unacceptable coming from any other person, then it's not ok. And that's why we shouldn't just blindly give males who don't respect women's privacy, dignity and right to define themselves, this status of being victims. Any person who doesn't recognise why women need single sex protections and sees males who are happy to impose themselves in this situations is not an ally to women... They don't value women. They see women as second class and just there to validate men. They see women as not worthy of having their own traumas acknowledged and recognised.

Ultimately I'd frame it like this for your own sanity:

Your ex is not trans. Your ex is an abusive male trying to abuse you once again whilst hiding behind a skirt to protect him from being called out for being an abusive man. How can you tell the difference between 'true trans' and an abusive male pretending to be trans? And that's why you can't be anything but a 'terf' after he's contacted you out of the blue to abuse you.

This is a terrific post.

Buffypaws · 01/09/2024 06:34

Omg these men. Sounds like you are justly traumatised, a pre trans widow. I’d block him after telling him never to contact you again or you’ll consider it criminal stalking and harassment.

does he have a porn problem by any chance?

don’t worry about being called a terf. The ‘terfs were right’ jar runneth over with coin. Join us.

init4thecats · 01/09/2024 06:45

I'd simply reply "You ARE an abuser, no matter what you think you are now. Abusers never change."

And then block and delete

Cambiarenome · 01/09/2024 06:48

Block him. Rewriting history is a common theme here. My brother's friend came out as a tw and tells everyone that he always knew and he used to change with the girls at school because we all saw him as a girl. Yeah, right. Nevr happened.

Crouton19 · 01/09/2024 07:26

Cambiarenome · 01/09/2024 06:48

Block him. Rewriting history is a common theme here. My brother's friend came out as a tw and tells everyone that he always knew and he used to change with the girls at school because we all saw him as a girl. Yeah, right. Nevr happened.

Yep, it's part of their script.

It is possible (though absolutely do not meet up with him to find out) that he is modelling his new look on you, and may be somewhat obsessed with you. As others have said, block, don't engage and if any mutual friends try to talk about it just say 'that person is an ex for a reason' and move on. Don't let him have any power over you whatsoever.

hatboxes · 01/09/2024 07:33

I’m really sorry to hear this. As pp said, your feeling traumatised by this is completely justified.

An abuser has thrown you a curve ball, and I’m not surprised you are shaken. Any contact from this person would be triggering, let alone this particular brain twisting minefield he has placed you in.

its a form of DARVO (Deny Attack Reverse Victim and Offender). Eg Deny, he’s not abusive because that wasn’t him. Attack, you are a Terf. Now he’s the poor trans victim, and you are the offender who’s abused him. As such it’s straight out of the coercive control/abusive playbook. Your fears of what he might say to others are part of this. Its horrible.

It’s designed to destabilise you, just as he did when you were together with his ‘only I would love you you weirdo’ (Another classic)

you don’t owe him anything

you need to protect yourself from him.

Please take care of yourself. it’s a psychological attack. You will feel shaky. I hope you have trusted people you can talk to, and strategies for self care.

Be very gentle with yourself.