***
I have always been an easy person to manipulate. I remember being in high school with my first boyfriend and everything was my fault. We had been together for two years, and for two years I found myself apologizing for instances where I did nothing wrong. One example that comes to mind is as follows: I had been told by a friend that he was cheating on me with his ex. I asked him about this. He obviously wasn't too happy about this because he told me that I was bitch. That I didn't trust him. Being only 16 it became a normal in my mind to be called this.
***
***
Later on in the relationship I had broken my foot. It was very difficult for me to ride the bus as I had crutches. There was a friend of mine who had happened to be a male that offered to drive me home. I graciously said yes. This friend never made any advances and respected my relationship. My boyfriend however, did not condone this act of kindness. He accused me of cheating. Meanwhile, he was going over to his ex-girlfriends house every day. His alibi was that it also was the home of his best friend, which was true. Although he said he went to see his best friend, there were many instances of his ex-girlfriend picking him up, only minutes after belittling me for accepting a ride because I could not walk on both legs.
***
The last instance I want to discuss is when he slapped my arm out of anger. Boyfriends and girlfriends play fight and wrestle all the time. I don't see anything wrong with that. I do not believe that it leads to physical abuse. This particular evening I was sitting behind him, and we were watching T.V. I was scratching his back and I tickled his ribs. He giggled and said stop. I tickled him again. He said dammit stop and at the same time he reached around and slapped my arm. Hard. It left a mark. I was shocked and just looked at him. He immediately started to apologize. I just looked at him. I told him to take me home. He took me home and we never spoke of the event again.
***
***
I do not believe that I was horribly abused. There are so many worse cases out there. However, we should not look at abuse in that way. Abuse is abuse. Whether it be physical, psychological, or sexual. What happened in this first relationship of mine is that it set me up for a habit of bad relationships. We need to focus on education. How to identify abusive relationships, and how to get help.