Maybe he tells you you’re not happy. Or you look depressed. Or you’re crazy.
Maybe your friends have told you you’ve changed. Or you don’t see them as often any more.
Maybe he tells you you’re beautiful, before he tells you to go get changed… you can’t leave the house like that.
Maybe it’s always your fault. Even though you’re the one hurting.
Maybe you’re ‘lucky’ to have him, and he reminds you of this everyday.
Maybe you’re scared of his reactions, and he knows this.
#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou is a trending hashtag on the effects of emotional abuse. It’s a handle where real women are sharing their stories of partners who’ve been manipulative, coercive, controlling, abusive.
It’s a hastag for an important, powerful, under-discussed cause. It helps build support and awareness around a type of abuse that is as hard to pinpoint as it is damaging. But, as relevant as the hashtag is, it’s important to know that male partners are not the only ones perpetrating this type of behaviour. Women in lesbian relationships, or female partners in hetrosexual relationships, can be just as capable of inflicting pain, manifesting jealousy, causing insecurities and cultivating fear.
Because this type of abuse has nothing to do with physical strength or stereotypes. It’s all about power and the mind.
There aren’t bruises. It occurs over a long period. It can creep up on you, and without understanding it you are in a relationship based on fear, that is completely one-sided, and that has nothing nothing to do with love.
Top Comments
Im guessing the reason for highlighting emotional abuse is that it can often lead to much more. You are in too deep before you realise what has happene. Yes it hsppens to both genders, across cultures and religions but the sad facts are that in this point of time in the world men represent high numbers as abusers and women and children across the world are the victims. Nothing is going to get better from ignoring it. It is a difficult conversation but necessary. If the men who argue this could only ask the women in thier lives (mothers, sisters, daughters, partners and friends) of their experiences growing up, they would be shocked.