Sometimes I [F19] feel like my boyfriend [M19] is raping me. I tried to talk to him about it but now he's angry with me.

I agree with one of the other commenters - it might be best to have the continuation of this discussion outside the bedroom, in a neutral area.

For what it's worth, I have been on the other side of this equation - I have been told by a partner that they felt I assaulted them when I came on to them while I was drunk. It was (and still is) horrifying, of course, but I didn't get angry with them - that doesn't exactly help someone to feel more comfortable. However, there are very few social scripts that our society provides people with to navigate being the person who has done something that violated someone else's consent. We get it into our heads that we are either completely innocent or 100% evil rapists, and of course no one wants to think they are an evil rapist. But, the important thing is that we all commit to doing whatever we can to make sure that we don't violate other people's consent. If we become aware there's a problem with how we do things, then that means it's time to take accountability for that.

It's hard. Ultimately your safety has to come first, so I'm not saying it's your job to teach your boyfriend how not to violate your consent. And I agree - you didn't do anything wrong here. If he continues to be angry instead of ever being willing to listen to your point of view on this, then that's not a great sign. However, at the same time, I can understand why he would have a shocked and negative gut reaction to hearing that from you. Give him some time to calm down and then try to broach the conversation again. The easiest way to avoid it feeling like he's raping you is to check in with each other - a simple "is this all right?" or "can i touch you?" can go a long way.

/r/relationships Thread