An Online Community for Mental Health Support

What do you regret you should have known earlier in life?

35 & Over Community / by BlatantHonesty

5 minutes ago

Hey everyone!

7 Cups Online Therapy / by rae1011

7 minutes ago

Inspiration Thread

Positivity & Gratitude / by yellowPark3509

10 minutes ago

What initially brought you here?

Newbie Hub / by BlatantHonesty

11 minutes ago

Angel trapped in human

Reading & Writing / by gentleMaple2595

13 minutes ago

What superpowers would you have, based on your personality??

General Support / by Tinywhisper11

18 minutes ago

Describe yourself using just one word.

Newbie Hub / by BlatantHonesty

23 minutes ago

"Breaking Barriers: A Girl's Rap Dream"

Women's Issues / by Newton420

23 minutes ago

Age Isn't Just a Number: The Gendered Dynamics of Age-Gap Relationships

Women's Issues / by Mya000

30 minutes ago

...See more Age-gap relationships are often normalized and romanticized, but the reality is far from the fairytale society tries to sell us. These relationships don’t exist in a vacuum—they exist in a patriarchal system where older men hold more power, and younger women are socialized to accept less. The normalization of large age gaps isn’t just about personal preference, it’s about gendered power imbalances that put women at risk. Statistical data highlights the commonality of this pattern. Globally, men are, on average, 4.2 years older than their female partners. In the United States, approximately 68% of married men are older than their wives. This pattern is directly linked to the sexualization of female youth. Society conditions men to view younger women as more "desirable" while discouraging women from embracing their age and independence. Young women are taught to equate their worth with how attractive they are to older men, while men are encouraged to pursue younger women as a status symbol. This dynamic isn’t about love—it’s about power and control. Research shows that relationships with significant age differences are more likely to involve control, coercion, and emotional abuse. The older partner—usually a man—has more life experience, financial stability, and social power, making it easier to manipulate and dominate the younger partner—usually a woman. This is an extension of how sexism operates in intimate relationships. Women are told that dating older men is a sign of maturity, while men dating younger women are praised for their "charm." This double standard is rooted in male entitlement—a system that encourages men to seek women they can control while discouraging women from valuing their own autonomy and boundaries. Studies show that age-gap relationships have worse long-term outcomes for women. Women in these relationships report higher rates of financial dependence and psychological distress compared to those with partners closer in age. This is not a coincidence—it’s a direct consequence of power imbalances that make it harder for women to assert themselves. It’s time to challenge the normalization of predatory dynamics. True love is built on equality, mutual respect, and shared life experience—not on a power imbalance that favors men at women’s expense.

There is nothing quite like .........?

General Support / by Tinywhisper11

39 minutes ago

How can one love one's self?

General Support / by Dreee

40 minutes ago

Idk

Trauma Support / by Mattermore

42 minutes ago

...See more So, my father had recently passed away to to organ failure from not taking care of his diabetes. He was only 45. I haven’t been able to properly grieve due to our relationship being strained for the last few years. I left home @ 16 for trade school because of how bad verbally my father and mother an be towards me, they would invalidate everything id say callying me a liar or say i was a bullshitter when i would tell them serious things about what happened to me, things that no child or teen should go through, for a call to the cops immediately type of thing. I always felt like my dad had some type had bpd bc he was always lying annd acted different every couple weeks like a whole new person it’s a whole new attudie and ethic to is life yk and one day he would be really nice then threatening the world the next day, but that’s not my business to dive into bc frankly. Do not care, since is was all directed towards me but since i was a child that definitely spoke up for myself and would call you out of ur name if I needed to, i was labeled as defiant and was outcased to be the blacksheep of the family but with that as sometime has passed since April, ie been trying really hard to remember him better and more, and all that i keep unlocked are memories I’ve had suppressed since childhood, im talking single digits, 6, and its been so overlying and I’ve been dying to reach out o my mom about these things and i keep getting “‘this again”, or the imfamous, ‘“ur starting this *** again why can’t you let ur little twisted fantasies go and be normal for once” or the even more famous “ur just imaging it in ur head it never happened, ***, stay off my phone” I don’t know what to do anymore, I have surpressed so much as a teen that now in my adult years its been very detrimental to my health and memory, i was diagnosed with server major depression at 18 and acute anxiety along with bp and ocd and cptsd. I am currently 20bout to be 21 in a few days and i feel like im spiraling really bad, im currently in a failed legal marrage with 7 animal and on top of that im regrettably living with slob roommates with their 8 animals that have really bad behavioral issues and pee and spray and *** every where they can, keep lave anything out or it will be ruined i a hr type bad. I don’t have much space in my 9ft by 10 ft room or a job to leave. I’m Medically and mentally and physically in a horrible spot right now, and I honestly don’t know what to do. I’d really like some advice at this point so I can keep my *** sanity.

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