Women Got Asked When Did They Stop Feeling Safe Around Men, 30 Deliver Sad Stories

For the longest time I guess it was with me but stayed in the back of my mind. Living with my step dad was a issue in itself but after having my first child and finally talking to my father about it, I started therapy and with some brief refreshes here and there for ptsd and childhood trauma, I am doing well as a adult. I'm very picky about who I allow into my life and I will cut my losses with you if you violate my trust in any way. I just find that healthy for me. I also worked in counseling with girls 13-18 years old that had many similar issues and it was triggering but so very good as well.

Aaaw bless you Cold Contagious. I'm sorry this happened to you but I'm also very proud at how you came out, got help and helped young girls. Humble bow and a hug!

Thank you so much for your kind words. It was crazy living with my mom and step-dad but I had a great father and my grandmother was fabulous, she was with me until just after my 13th birthday. I grew up quickly but the best things in my life came from them. They definitely showed me what love is. Even though it made for some confusion at times, I always tried to base my life on what I learned from them.

Thanks for your kind words. He was certainly a disturbed individual. When I was 16 years old, I went to my mom's closet to check out her dresses and discovered that he had drilled a small hole through to my bedroom wall that was measured to the height of my bed. He had a area made for him to sit in his closet with pillows for comfort and a ashtray for his cigarette butts and had a beer can where he'd been chilling and watching me. Knowing that my boyfriend and I had been having sex in that bed, I was sick and disgusted. I told my mom as soon as she got home from work but he tried to blame my little brother. Even though my brother had moved in with my dad and didn't drink my stepdad's brand of beer or smoke his brand of cigarettes, which I told her was positive that my brother was innocent due to the cigarettes and beer, along with the pillows and seating area made for comfort in her closet, how could it be anyone else besides her husband. She chose to believe him.

My childhood was a trauma fuelled nightmare and it's really amazing in hindsight that that as a adult I'm in a good place. Ppl may think it's inappropriate or TMI to put this out there but I'm just saying that everyone doesn't overcome it. They likely didn't have the positive influence like my father and grandma. I may not have made it through without them. I was married for 30 years and my husband left after I was bitten by a tick and became ill. I'm still very happy now. I have my children and family and enjoy every aspect of life that I possibly can. And my favorite relaxing escape is to rock it out at concerts every chance I get. If the walking is more than I can handle on the occasion I use my wheelchair but if it's a small venue I push myself to get the exercise. I try to live life to its fullest. I've got a lot to make up for.

Live the best life you can. You deserve to have happiness.

That is just so horrible. Not only is he being a pervert, he's blaming a child for what you found. The worst part of all of this is that your mom chose to believe him. She had to have known that with the history between you two that he was lying.

I also found out a short time later though that the only reason my husband wanted to push me into the relationship with them was because my step-dad was giving him a gallon ziploc baggy of pot to sell another gallon ziploc baggy of pot back in the early 90's and I just happened to find it in the trunk of the car in a bag when we were unloading groceries. I was furious at the lies and deception. Called my mother, she tried to ho hum around as I went off on her for that being in my car with me and my daughter without us knowing and her not caring about what my step-dad ever did but they would not screw with my child's life and while she was on the phone I dumped both baggies down the toilet and flushed them and told her it was their problem, not mine and hung up. My husband got the same and I was furious with him, it was his fault. I'm sure it seems extreme to flush it all down the toilet but between all their abuse and the deception with all of it and my baby at risk, I just lost it.

She absolutely had to have known. She's made too many questionable decisions where I am concerned but she knew. On one occasion when I was 18 they had a very inebriated guest that tried to kiss me and was making uncomfortable comments towards me. To keep my husband from being involved in a physical altercation with the person, I went to my mom and step-dad and told them the problem, to which my mom replied that I'd end up as crazy as my aunt if I didn't just let it go. My aunt, her sister, has schizophrenia, completely unrelated to the issue at hand. I knew then for certain she'd never accept any reality of a problem or support me in any way. I had only given her another chance in my life at the insistence of my husband or I would have cut them out of my life sooner rather than later. Every reaction to every important situation in my life was toxic.

My uncle has schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is not something that you joke about lightly.

No, it isn't. I felt like it was a cruel thing to say.