@Gwendolyn2018 More and more I am agreeing. My little sister left her husband, and Texass,of 35 years. She moved in with our brother who lives in N. Seattle (they are a different generation and basically grew up together). She then met someone online. They got along and bought a condo in Bellingham, just to the north of me. Now I get to be reconnected with this part of my family. However, she also had horror stories of her ex. He was Iranian and introduced my late partner (also from Iran). We knew him for years and he was a very sociable, outgoing guy who found a great job as a pilot for an obscure airline. Now my sister tells me he had always been abusive and lately, he had a major mid-life crises. He got testosterone cream from his doctor. He also started with an Iranian women (who is married to another Iranian - Dallass has the 2nd largest population of Iranians). She is 30 about half his, and her husbands age. My sister found out about this and he reverted to his extreme Iranian paternalism and told her she was supposed to obey him and do as she is told which included death. Later she started having serious health problems. When she went to her doctor he said she was being poisoned and it turned out his testosterone cream was being added to her food (he was the main cook). She hired a detective who videoed several things including the couple amending her car trunk to disengage the escape mechanism from the trunk. She brought the video to her attorneys who presented it in court and she was able to get a good settlement but a large portion of the money went to legal fees. She wants to file criminal charges and wants me to view the video and help. All this has become a total shock. She shared a thing from her Quorum account - How to negotiate with your abusive ex. She said it got a million hits. She also had another one which she would not share which she said got 2 million hits.
Seems, you can't trust anyone, especially men, in this day and age. I am hearing more an more stories like this and is is extremely disheartening. Seems this month of domestic violence awareness has taken on a heightened meaning for some.

@Gwendolyn2018 Wow. Why do so many men feel they have to push themselves on women? Must be a huge amount of a lack of self confidence among the male gender. However, years ago, I had a woman do this to me. She kept sending me mail and wanting to meet again. She even wrote a weird book of poetry and sent it to me. I ignored al the advances and she eventually gave up. But this was nothing compared to your stories. Unfortunately, and I'm sure you agree, a wall has been set up and any future guys have to really be on their best behavior.

@Gwendolyn2018 Interesting as I am feeling the same way. It's been over 5 years since my partner died. Even when she was alive she would go off island for teaching, traveling or visiting her family in Vancouver BC. I estimate between 3 to four months (not all at once). We both got used to our alone time. Now, with the pandemic I am again mostly alone. Having a new partner would be very difficult to take. A part time friend would be ideal. Throughout my life I have had many women friends. Perhaps I feel more comfortable being around women than men. One huge benefit with my last partner was she was the least shy person I have ever known. She was very assertive without being the least bit aggressive. This was a big revelation and I realize how important that is in any relationship.

These guys who can't deal with rejection really need to wake up. In life, rejection is the norm.

Sorry about bi-polarism in the family. My first partner has this problem and I see it has affected my daughter. I'm hoping I can get her to be more open to assertive communication with me as the guinea pig. She is having a hard time telling her, clueless, husband what she wants and how she feels.

@Gwendolyn2018 I have lived alone for some 13 years. There was usually a good social network + work so it wasn't totally alone, until now. It can work on one's psyche, though. In the friendship dept. we are very different.

@Gwendolyn2018 I find I can do a high arrogant stay the fuck away and don't even think of messing with me attitude when I need to. I can't keep it up for long but it can get me down the street and away.

@Gwendolyn2018 OH! I to lost wieght and responses changed.

In my experience, the concept of mutual consent has never even registered with a lot of guys.

go Lora go , go Lora go !!! Yes !!! I will had punch him too . Yes !

@Gwendolyn2018 Women definitely do it too, been down that road as well and I can tell you that turning women down is every bit as upsetting for them as it is when the shoe is on the other foot, perhaps more so. It's assumed that most men are prepared to sleep with any women willing to offer the opportunity, maybe for the jerks and knuckledraggers of the world but not for many men. Sorry about your luck but at least he didn't call you a lesbian because you rejected his advances, I've had my sexual preference called into question several times just because I wasn't interested in a woman who was interested in me. I'm not all that but I am particular and think it is important to have an emotional connection with a woman before becoming intimate with her.

@Gwendolyn2018 My money's on "didn't want to".

@Gwendolyn2018 It's a very common perspective that most men are little more than a wallet and a life support system for a penis but that doesn't make it so. I've always maintained that women are deciding factor in most sexual encounters, they are the ones making the decision to go ahead or not, men just like to think that they are the initiators. Silly rabbits, Trix are for kids.
The whole knight in shining armour rescuing fair damsel in distress narrative is so overblown that it makes a good story line for a Disney production. If I were a knight it would be a dark one in battered armour that's been tempered by dragon breath and if my wife were a Princess then dragons would tremble in her presence. lol

@Gwendolyn2018 I try to focus on the future and on the positive, although it is not always an easy task. I agree that there are men that want to be wallets and shining knights because that's the archetype they were raised with, equally there are Barbies and Disney Princess out in the world as well. As a feminist from an early age I have always felt that if my partner, my mother, sister, daughter can't be as free as I am then I can never really be free either.

@Gwendolyn2018 Thank you, I do like to believe I'm a gentleman. If there were more like me, eh?

@Gwendolyn2018 As for Ms Cashion, I'm sure she was one of those who gave the "he said, she said" line, or made the excuse that people were only out to "get" Trump once he went into politics, or (worst of all) thought that, him being a celebrity, women were throwing themselves at him in some way and blaming him for it later. We've seen all those excuses, haven't we... not just in Trump's case either.

Not all men are ass wipes like these guys. I know quite a few that are perfect gentlemen.

@K9Kohle789 Idiots out to get their jollies and laugh about getting away with it. This "boys will be boys" attitude needs to be changed in their rearing. Yes, I blame those who rear men to be like this for it, by saying that old quote. I hate the double standard where they tell the boys to go out and get as laid as much as possible, but call the girls sluts for the SAME thing!