Skip to main content

TIFU by realizing I'm perpetuating my boyfriend's trauma

I would like to start this post by saying I know that what happened to my boyfriend wasn't my fault, Im not implying that, but I know I struggle with articulation so I wanted to clear that up. Obvious throwaway, and apologies for formatting.

My boyfriend (20 M) and I (21 TF) have been since together since October, and not too long before we started dating he was raped. He's mentioned to me that he may have problems with intimacy, and that sex was off the table in any relationship before we started dating, and I was fine with that. I'm a very cuddly person, and he knows that. He's told me in the past he wants to heal and wants me to be intimate, but I'm now realizing the extent to what this is doing to him. We were cuddling in my car and he goes silent, not answering me verbally, which is a sign he's kinda out of it (we're both autistic and go non verbal when overstimulated, so it is my sign something is wrong) and turns out he's having a panic attack. The only other time I know of this happening to him was when we were making out and he noticed I was aroused. After I did my best to help him snap out of it, which I only hope I did well as I'm not used to situations like this, he told me something that I haven't stopped thinking about. "It just feels weird when I'm being held, and when I think about why I'm suddenly back to that place" (not going into detail here).

I'm a pretty insecure person, and I always have this insecurity about being weird, creepy, pervvy, etc. Being a trans woman I've kinda lived with the stereotype that I'm a predator. Because of this I've been really careful with my boyfriend, when we first started dating I'd ask for consent for everything, holding hands, cheek kisses, etc. Eventually he said i didn't need to, and he'd tell me if something was up, and he didn't want me feeling bad or hesitant to be intimate because of what happened to him because that'd only make him feel bad. So I trusted that, but now he's telling me something new about our intimacy and I don't know how to feel. I was terrified of doing something and hurting him, and I know I wouldn't do anything intentionally, so I've been trying my best to notice if I was doing something wrong. The first time he had a panic attack with me he said something felt different, the idea that someone was physically attracted to him kinda brought him back to that moment he was raped, and although I felt guilty, I pushed it down, saying it was irrational and put my full faith in him.

However now I can't stop thinking about that, this whole time we've been dating have I been doing this? Because he's has moments of being nonverbal before, but there's a difference between that and a panic attack, and up until now I assumed he'd just been zoned out. He zones out a lot when I'm driving him places and stuff so I thought it was that, but now I'm double guessing myself. He's aware of my insecurity, and now I'm wondering if he's been holding back his uncomfortable feelings to make sure I didn't feel guilty. I want to ask him if it's something he goes through more often than I realize, but I don't know if I could ever live with myself if he says yes.

TL;DR: my intimacy with my boyfriend caused a panic attack and now I'm questioning my actions through our relationship.

(Also apologizes if this breaks the "has to be your fault" rule, but I think this is more than just being insecure at this point)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

TIFU - Don’t do what I did

On Sunday morning Aug. 24th, I awoke to discover a large blind spot in my right eye, which turned out to be what is called wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). It has resulted in a very significant, permanent loss of vision in that eye. Although I maintain good peripheral vision, whatever I focus on at best is very blurry, and mostly disappears. I can barely make out the large E at the top of the eye chart. If this happens to my left eye I’ll be unable to read or drive. It turns out that I missed the opportunity that I had to prevent this from becoming a serious problem because I failed to report what appeared to be minor changes in my vision. In the weeks prior to August I had noticed that what I knew to be straight lines appeared to my right eye to have a little waviness. I also noticed that the color of my front lawn, which I could see through the window from my recliner,  was subdued, looked almost gray, in my right eye. So I scheduled an eye exam, which revealed the p...

TIFU by getting suspended for 2 days by my front office in school.

I (13M) am an African American student at Jeannette junior high who had got suspended for 2 days here. I was in math class minding my business until my teacher had told me to go to the main office, which posed no problem to me. As i went down there, the people of the front office had stopped me and made me get a new ID (yes, we have id's.) so i had asked them if i could maybe do a different alternative and call my mother to let her bring the Id here, even then, the Id isn't that important. So, although i was talking to them in a calm manner and not showing any signs of rebellion, they had threatened to call the police on me without thinking twice before calling my parents. This is where i started getting angry, and even then now the black peers agree that could have been a racially motivated action. They then told me to sit in the office conference room because of that, leading into more anger. They had then called my mother who had came over to the school didn't even let ...

TIFU by putting my already skinny jeans in the dryer on high heat.

TL;DR: Was stupid and didn't realize I put my clothes on extra high heat in the dryer. Had to rock skintight skinny jeans all day with tighty whities (only clean pair I had since I procrastinate doing laundry like crazy). I guess the constant wedgies and squishing are punishment for my stupidity. Honestly don’t know who else to blame but myself for this. I’m a scatterbrained guy so I literally put the highest setting on a load with most of my clothes, and my skinny jeans that I was planning to wear today. You can probably already see where this is going, but somehow I didn’t. For context, these jeans were already pushing the limits of what could reasonably be called wearable. They fit, technically, but only in the sense that I could get them on with enough determination and a bit of strategic breathing. Sitting down in them was more of a commitment than a casual action. Still, they looked good, and I had convinced myself that discomfort was just part of the aesthetic. So this m...