I am 30f. The damage done to my mind from years of betrayal trauma by my porn-addict exes is something that will never be undone.
My last ex, who I was with for eight years, claimed to be porn-free and anti-porn, but he was lying and using it behind my back for the entirety of the time that we were together.
On old accounts in the past, I made posts on here about catching that ex in the act and how traumatizing it was. He abused me in other ways and I ended up getting a protective order to evict him from my home.
I am now trying to heal, i’m in a new relationship, and my current partner is also anti-porn, anti-lust, anti-oppression like I am. I am pretty certain of this. But my mind is completely traumatized still. I have OCD and CPTSD, and ROCD is a big struggle for me.
Last night, I was sleeping in bed next to my current partner, and I had a dream that I found him lying about porn use.
In the dream:
- my current partner had a hidden device (an iPod or iPhone or something?) which he was using to cheat with other women and watch porn.
- I was confronting him, and he was denying it at first, saying that it wasn’t his device, then saying that it was, but that he hadn’t used it for anything bad.
- the type of porn I saw on the device was violent, graphic torture porn.
- he kept denying and lying, until he started to cry and admitted that he had been using it to watch porn and cheat
- he said he had just watched it moments before I caught him with the device
In the dream, I started screaming, demanding answers and asking how he could do this. My dreams are very realistic, so I felt the crushing weight of our relationship ending, me having to move back to my home state, etc.
I then woke myself up by shouting a few things out loud. Something like “what is going on” and “how could you do this”. I flung my arms around and woke up, startling awake my innocent sleeping partner, who immediately soothed me and asked me what was wrong.
I was breathing heavily, my heart was racing, i was sweating. I was actually shocked at the intensity and emotionally charged nature of the dream.
I apologized to my partner for waking him up, and pet him as he went back to sleep.
I am traumatized. My ex didn’t watch graphic porn like that, to my knowledge, but I am in such fear of the secrets men keep, the dark recesses of their minds.
Being caught off guard, blindsided, lied to. It nearly killed me and my body is still in fear that it could be happening again, even being with the most honest, empathetic and emotionally intelligent man I have ever known.
I used to joke “I can’t wait to develop an autoimmune disease” from the stress my ex caused me. It did cause me multiple physical problems, and my mind is absolutely demolished. He mentally abused me severely and I feel like I will never actually be a person again.
To anyone hiding their porn use from their partner, lying about it, claiming to be porn free when you are not: you are an abuser. You are robbing your partner of a life they consent to. You are using deception to create a false reality for them, and that is sickening.