r/MenGetRapedToo • u/Indie_Light • 9h ago
My ex boyfriend assaulted me when I was 13, 14, and 18 NSFW
I’ve never really talked about it online before so I’m sorry if I get vague at some points, it’s just hard to speak about it. I feel so alone right now and I just want at least one person to hear me. I won’t be surprised if nobody reads this though. It will probably be long. I’ll probably also delete it because I’ll regret posting it later.
I come from a wealthy family. I’m grateful for that because even though I went through a lot, at least I never had to worry about monetary things. I had everything I needed. Except for love. My mom left when I was 6 years old, and my dad took his anger out on me and my younger sister. He beat us and yelled at us for years. When I turned 11 he stopped hitting us for the most part, he even stopped yelling too. But he just became neglectful instead. I wanted someone to love me. My dad had a friend with a son(C) the same age as me but I didn’t see him often, and I wasn’t close with my sister.
I don’t want to make this too much of a ramble about my tragic backstory so I’ll just cut to the chase, I ended up being friends with a guy(M) 2 years older than me. We started dating when I was 13 and he was 15. I would spend all day with him and my dad didn’t question where I was as long as I showed up at the end of the day. He knew I was with M, just not where we were or what we did. M was in the process of love bombing me. I finally had all of the love and attention I wanted.
A couple of months after we started dating he asked me for oral sex. I wasn’t interested in those things at the time yet so I said no, but he stopped being nice to me and kept pressuring me until a couple weeks later I ended up saying yes. I wanted his love back. He said if I didn’t like it we would stop. But we didn’t. And he made me do it almost every day after that. I felt so depressed after that started happening that I stopped eating and wouldn’t go to school. M also started being abusive to me, mostly verbally but sometimes he would hit me. I think he was a sadist or something. He pressured me into smoking cigarettes and by the time I turned 14 I was a smoker. My dad didn’t care about what I was doing or what was going on with me, and at this point I was now homeschooled. He noticed that I smelled like cigarettes at some point and got angry about it but didn’t do anything to help me.
The October before I turned 15, I went out with M. This time he wanted me to stay out all night with him at a park near my house and I thought it could be fun so I agreed. He brought alcohol. It was the first time I tried it and it was so gross but I drank it anyways. At some point while I was with him I suddenly started feeling very dizzy and weak. My limbs felt like lead and I could barely move. Seconds felt like eternity. I felt like I had to breathe and blink manually. He raped me. It hurt so much and I couldn’t do anything to stop him. When he was done I think he saw how much blood there was and he freaked out that I might die. He called my dad(I think my dad was wondering where I was so he wasn’t asleep yet) from my phone to tell him that I was seriously hurt and where I was, then ran away and left me there. He had the courtesy of turning on my phone’s flashlight before leaving so that it would be easier to find me.
I always say that my dad was terrible and didn’t care about me but when I think about the way he reacted it’s impossible for me to hate him still. He wasn’t the best dad but he still loved me. I don’t know how long it took him to find me and I honestly don’t remember much of this part other than how sleepy I was. I passed out. I woke up the next day at the hospital. I had had emergency surgery for a perforation. I almost died. I hate the hospital still. All I could think about was what happened to me. My entire body felt like it wasn’t my own anymore. He used me. Like I was nothing. My dad was furious about the whole situation and wanted M to do time, but the police said that there wasn’t enough evidence because I didn’t actually say no. Even though I didn’t say no because I couldn’t speak. It also was worse because I went to the park with him by my own choice and drank alcohol. The time after I came back home was somehow the loneliest I ever felt and the most loved I ever was by my dad.
He finally cared about me. He made sure I ate. He got me a therapist and made sure he knew where I was at all times. I guess that wasn’t too hard though because I mostly stayed home. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I was always in my room. All I would do is cry all day and remember. I had nightmares every single night, multiple times a day. The most embarrassing part is that sometimes I would wet myself. I hated everyone and myself too. I thought it was everyone’s fault that nobody did anything to stop it. Most of all I felt like it was my fault. I should have known better. I was so ashamed but at the same time I felt like I deserved it and that it should happen to me again. I was also terribly afraid of men including my dad. He didn’t know what to do with me so he took me to a psychiatrist. I got diagnosed with ptsd and was prescribed medication but I refused to take it. He would yell at me to take it but it just made me feel worse.
My dad thought I might feel better if I was around my friends more but it didn’t really help, so he asked his friend to bring back my childhood friend C. C started coming to visit me regularly even though I was scared of him. But he never did anything to me and he was really nice despite my fears. Because of what happened I was also simultaneously sex repulsed and hyper-sexual. I knew he was bisexual and I hoped that maybe he would take advantage of me because it’s what I deserved. I made moves on him but he refused. He said he liked me but that he was scared to hurt me. When he said he liked me, I felt wanted and happy for the first time after what happened. I’m not even sure if I truly liked him at first but we agreed to date. In retrospect I know that it made me happy that he liked me because I had developed the belief that my only use was as a partner to be used. It made me feel I had purpose.
After that I barely made progress in therapy but C tolerated me and my breakdowns over and over again. Even though I don’t know if I liked him at first, I started to like him because of his kindness. He was also funny and good looking. My dad actually really didn’t like that I was dating him. He didn’t trust him after M and didn’t let me go out with him without supervision and a curfew. I wish he cared about me like that before. But at least he cared about me after.
Me and C had only dated for about two years but I wanted to marry him and he did too. My dad thought it was too soon but he wanted me to be happy so he let me get married and paid for my wedding. I got married in 2018, less than a month after I turned 18. C is 6 months older than me, so he was also 18. Looking back on it as a 23 year old I realize how stupid I was and how dangerous it could have turned out to be. But I got lucky and I’m happy in my marriage. C has never hurt me and despite the unhealthy start of our relationship, as well as some major codependency, we have grown a lot and made a lot of progress on both getting better. I have ptsd and he has ocd. We support each other and I wouldn’t have made it without him. A little ray of sunshine in my sob story.
A few months after we married I got jumped and gang raped outside. By M and some other men I didn’t know. I was suspicious that he had been stalking me but stupidly didn’t think he would actually do anything. I don’t want to talk about this instance much. I wasn’t really injured physically this time but it still broke my mind again and I’m still sometimes scared of walking on the street. I didn’t want to press charges so C wanted us to move to a different city, which we did. I haven’t seen or heard about M since then. I only started feeling better about two years ago.
I don’t think the impacts of my traumas will ever go away though. I’m scared I’ll never get better. I feel like I’ve made no progress even though when I look back on how I was and how I am now, there’s a difference. I’m medicated and don’t have nightmares as often. When I have them I’m mostly able to regulate myself instead of breaking down. I’m mildly better at handling my triggers. But I still feel broken and sometimes I lose all my progress. I only stopped smoking this year. Despite having all the support I could want. I have a loving husband and a therapist and medication. I have money. People would give everything to have what I have and yet it’s still not enough for me to get better. How much longer do I have to suffer to feel like a normal person? When will I be free from my fear and shame? Will I ever be? Recovery feels impossible. I’ve been in therapy for almost a decade and have made such little progress. I don’t want to wait until I’m 90 to live normally. It isn’t fair that I have to pay for what others did to me. I just wanted love.