Woman Says Husband Keeps ‘Testing’ Her Reactions During Arguments

Arguments are part of most relationships, but one woman says her husband takes their disagreements to an unsettling level.

In a Reddit post, the 30-year-old shared that while she and her 34-year-old husband “rarely” argue, when they do, he “has this habit of testing how far I’ll go.”

“For example, if I tell him to stop raising his voice, he’ll say, ‘Why, what are you gonna do?’ and then purposely raise it louder. Or if I walk away to calm down, he’ll follow me saying, ‘You can’t just walk away, you always do this,’ ” she explained.

The woman said that last week, a “stupid” argument over chores quickly escalated.

“He started mimicking me, repeating everything I said in a high-pitched voice and laughing. I told him to stop because it felt like he was trying to provoke me,” she wrote. “He said, ‘See? You always make yourself the victim.’ ”

Frustrated, she locked herself in the guest room and stayed there all night. From outside the door, she could hear him saying that she “was being dramatic” and that “a real adult doesn’t storm off.”

The next morning, he acted as if nothing had happened. When she brought up the fight, he accused her of overreacting and said she “took a timeout like a toddler.”

The woman explained that she simply didn’t want to yell or say something she’d regret, but now wonders if locking herself away was “too much.”

“Am I overreacting for not wanting to argue his way anymore?” she asked Reddit.

A large number of commenters sided with her.

One wrote, “He’s manipulative, playing testing games to aggravate you and pull you away from the topic at hand. All couples have conflicts — mature couples expect that and work on skills to talk them through. Your husband turns any conflict into an opportunity to mess with you, most likely to protect himself from having to face any actual consequences. He’s a mean and manipulative man child.”

Another person added bluntly, “He hates you. He is showing you that. Believe him.”