real life

A pop song about emotional abuse. Listen.

It’s not a new song but when Orianthi’s single “According to you” came on the radio yesterday, I realised it was actually a pop song about emotional abuse. Perhaps other song have been written on the subject in the past – I’m sure they have – but it’s worth tuning into the lyrics properly next time you hear it.

You’ve probably heard the song already but here is a reminder:

And here are some of the lyrics….

According to you
I’m stupid,
I’m useless,
I can’t do anything right.
According to you
I’m difficult,
Hard to please,
Forever changing my mind.
I’m a mess in a dress,
Can’t show up on time,
Even if it would save my life.
According to you
According to you

But according to him
I’m beautiful,
Incredible,
He can’t get me out of his head.
According to him
I’m funny,
Irresistible,
Everything he ever wanted.
Everything is opposite,
I don’t feel like stopping it,
So baby tell me what I got to lose.
He’s into me for everything I’m not,
According to you.

According to you
I’m boring,
I’m moody,
You can’t take me any place.
According to you
I suck at telling jokes cause I always give it away.
I’m the girl with the worst attention span;
You’re the boy who puts up with it.
According to you

If you’ve ever been in an emotionally abusive relationship (my hand is up – I wrote about it in detail in my book), this song will resonate. When you’re with someone abusive, it’s easy to mistake volatility for passion, control for caring. It’s not. It’s abuse and it usually starts insidiously with name calling or even more subtle forms of putting you down.

I guess my message to any woman who is with a man who tells her she’s stupid or useless or slutty or hopeless…..get out. It’s not about you, it’s about him. Emotionally abusive men – even if they don’t consciously realise what they’re doing – relentlessly chip away at your self image and self-esteem until you doubt yourself and then eventually believe them.

Emotionally abusive men don’t tend to change, either. Have you ever been in this kind of relationship or are you in one now? How did you break free?

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Murph 13 years ago

I just broke up with my partner of two years that did all sorts of terriable things to me to get control over my life. I should have known something was off when we first met, and ran to the hills, but being a nice caring person that I am, I thought he would change for me. My partner convluted this weird plot mailing letters to himself stating I was a slut and whore... that I was messing around behind his back., and all kinds of weird things. The letters came for over a year, and in his warped mind, convinced me that my friends were writing them, since they stated personal things about myself that didn't make it hard to believe at the time. Needless to say, the letters were sent under his door at night, on my vehicle, and supposedly under his neighbors doors that lived in the same complex! However, I started to notice that when he threw the garbage, a letter would be on my car the next morning, and the egg smashed on my windshield that was missing from his frig. Besides, who on earth would put a letter on someones vehicle in broad daylight at an apartment complex when your having dinner with friend? Then came the letter from his ex boyfriend in the mail from nearly 13 years ago, without a return address or phone number! These letters were torture to me, because at the time I had know idea where they were coming from? Keeping me isolated and confused to coverse with anyone, while dealing with his angry outburst. Oh yeah, he would call swearing at me in the morning how he was woken up by call pranks with odd messages stating what a big whore I was. Yet, when I called him during naps he would say he didn't hear the phone. Then of course he wouldn't change his number or call the police, since they would propably trace it back to him. Note that I finally came to my senses when he decided to put roast juice on the bed when I was in the shower telling me that I did #2 on the bed overnight! I was having digestive problems with my gallbladder, so he took that as an opportunity to degrade me and put me in my place. After smearing the meat on the sheets, since he was preparing a roast in the crock pot when I was showering, there was obviously noting on my underwear, or a hint that I slept in doo doo all night, After wondering what on earth, and smelling and feeling the stain, I was really in a weird place! I actually stayed with the creep, and never mentioned I was on too him, or knew about it. Maybe it was the nice things that he did at times, that had me wondering he was changing. Needless to say, I got tierd of all his mood swings, not wanting to spend time with my friends and beign a part of my life. I was stupid because I thought he was gong to change, admitted to having a temper, and went to counseling, what a mistake that was, since he convinced his counselor that he wasn't abusive, and that I should make attoinment for making him sound like a nut to all my friends and family. It was always my fault, so without discussing the letters, or the meat thing, plus the things I didn't mention, I finally said see you later. I don't answer his emails, calls, or stupid letters that he still loves me. If this is love, it shouldn't hurt. Good luck to all of you others that have to deal with these monsters! I am on my way to recovery, and am trying to put the past behind me. Perhaps writing a novel about this idot will help me cope!