this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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I'll (23M) try to summarize:

  • Mom and Dad were authoritarian parents who never gave us comfort or affection. They were very impatient and demanding. Dad would physically and verbally abuse us. Mom would do nothing to intervene. Even when he threw a goddamn toddler across the living room.

  • By the time I was born, my parents didn't appear to have any romantic or sexual chemistry. It was a constant hot-cold dynamic of fighting and silence.

  • My parents had fragile egos; any criticism would lead to rage and punishment. Brother turned out the same way, but his anger would lead to violence.

  • Since I was the youngest, I was bullied by Dad and Brother. I was shamed for being sensitive to the abuse and wanting comfort.

  • Brother would easily become explosively enraged and take it out on his environment, screaming and breaking things. Mom and Dad made fun of his reactions and didn't care about his feelings.

  • Dad was overtly hateful and would openly advocate for genocide for any country or group of people he didn't like.

  • From a young age I became intensely sexually attracted to receiving nurture and affection. This created far fewer awkward moments than one might think, thanks to the environment I lived in, but it led to paralyzing insecurities later since it was a behavior my parents never exhibited and mainstream pornography didn't showcase it.

  • I also became insecure about my empathy and desire to care for others because none of my family members modeled this behavior.

  • The moment Brother discovered YouTube (probably 7-10 years old), he immediately looked up videos of characters being set on fire and melting in a grotesque fashion. When Dad allowed Brother to play a superhero game, he spent the entire time killing all of the civilian NPCs and laughing at their deaths instead of following the game's objective.

  • Even without my low self-esteem, expressing myself authentically in school as a kid was risky because my bullies would relay anything I said and did back to Brother, creating a decentralized surveillance network.

  • I believed that nobody would ever like me because I was sensitive and wanted care and was shamed for those things. I struggled with masculine gender roles and felt like I was unwanted by the world. I became suicidal and wanted other people to hurt me.

  • I was scared of expressing my feelings and ideas because I thought this would be met with violence if I said or expressed anything that my family didn't like. I learned to be stone-faced and speak as little as possible unless I saw a strategy in doing otherwise. I pretended to listen to and care about my other family members so they wouldn't kill me. The surveillance wherever I went ensured that this authentic expression was impossible in-person.

  • Around age 13, I retreated into solitude. I had a seemingly unexplainable impulse as a young teen to bypass my family's totalitarian control of information and self-expression by securing Internet access on other devices or bypassing parental controls. I befriended people in chat rooms and felt like it was safe to be me, though I still struggled with socializing immensely. I educated myself about everything I wasn't allowed to learn about and slowly learned how to talk to people. This outside contact is what made me feel less isolated and allowed me to learn about how pro-social humans think and act, though my sense of normalcy was still distorted by my immediate environment.

  • Once I suspected I was being abused and made a futile attempt to call it out, my mother taught me to fear Child Protective Services and never tell anyone about the conditions at home or else CPS would put me into a worse place.

  • We had a dog, but I had to witness Dad beating the poor thing every fucking day while Mom pretended nothing was happening.

  • My parents insisted on me keeping the bedroom door unlocked even when they knew I might be jerking off. Once, my Dad forcibly unlocked my door while I was masturbating to see what porn I was watching, something he used as blackmail 7 years later.

  • I had to reconstruct a vision of what love looked like through my vivid sexual fantasies and verify with online friends that they have similar feelings.

  • Brother developed a worldview in which he is a god and his seminal fluid makes him powerful. He explicitly wants to "dominate" women and "destroy their egos" and he cites random reoccurring numbers and symbols as signs that he is the chosen one. He dreams of living in a mansion with dozens of wives and hundreds of kids. He says that relationships built on cooperation and compromise are too complicated and it's more practical to take absolute control.

  • Brother, seeking an outlet for his rage, went on to torture and kill a bird and display its corpse in a tree and beat his ex-girlfriend's cat to death. He fantasizes about shooting up peaceful protests and believes that emotional men are the downfall of civilization. When Dad asked him if he would be willing to kill me, he said yes, thinking I couldn't hear. Most recently, Brother went into a destructive rage and threatened to kill Dad with his knife. I stayed holed up in my room and prepared to jump out of the bedroom window if I had to make a run for it.

  • Mom pearl-clutches and threatens to withhold sustenance from me if I criticize her, but will allow Brother to scream at her and command her and won't even protest.

Earlier this week, I finally woke up and saw that all of my family members are batshit insane and incapable of change; there is zero logic to their behavior and all of my insecurities were me indirectly blaming myself for it. I took some short trips out into the real world and found out that pro-social and progressive people are everywhere. Much of my anxiety lifted and I could suddenly see examples of people loving and caring for people like me everywhere. I finally felt like people could love me and I felt genuinely happy FOR THE FIRST TIME because I realized the world is WAY less hellish than I thought at first and it's worth the effort to escape. I accepted so many things as normal because I was too scared to talk to anyone in the real world to challenge my beliefs.

Now, I'll have to risk my life to escape, but the chance for freedom beats the slow death of depression. Even if I am killed in my attempt to find freedom, I don't think anything is more painful than submission. I will die at the happiest point of my life.

Unfortunately, I'm very suspicious of men because of the whole violence and homicide thing. I want to know how common men like this are in the general population and what signs I should look out for. Although, since most murders are committed by those the victim knows, I have a feeling that the men who I have to worry the most about are the ones who live under the same roof.

So I'm curious how fucked this is. Worst 20% of households? 5%? 1%? Should I expect people with trauma like this to be walking around everywhere, or did I genuinely win the shit lottery?

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[–] halfeatenpotato@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 hours ago

I agree with everyone in this thread - your situation is a special kind of shit that you need to get out of. It is not the norm for people to behave like that and there are truly wonderful people out there in the world.

But, you also have to be very careful with other people. Not trying to make you paranoid and certainly not trying to discourage you from escaping (cause you definitely should), but there are people that will try to take advantage and manipulate. Just try to be smart and be wary - you'll find amazing people that are good to/for you, but you'll likely have to sift through the garbage.

Best of luck to you. I hope your new life gives you so many beautiful and peaceful moments.

[–] Strider@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

I'm sorry. The first point alone is enough für being royally fucked. The second on top makes it worse and I stopped reading soon thereafter, it's might only get worse and is hurtful to read. Again, sorry.

[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 7 points 10 hours ago

I just want to congratulate you deeply for still being alive, because damn...

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 9 hours ago

did you develop any codependancy issues?

[–] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

Oh wow i just woke u

Hm yeah, some pepple shouldnt reproduce

[–] venusaur@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago

This is not common, but absolutely a symptom of generations of abuse. Glad you’re breaking the cycle. I feel bad for your brother. He’s just a really hurt little boy who never got love. I hope one day he may see the benefit of intensive therapy. Maybe a psychedelic trip in a therapeutic setting. Hopefully he doesn’t hurt somebody too bad. Make sure the stay far away from them all. They’re dangerous.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 8 points 13 hours ago

Yeah dude, that's not the worst first world childhood I've heard of, but it's impressive how close it is. You're in the worse 1% for sure based on my experience as someone with a downright sunny childhood compared to yours and a cptsd diagnosis from it

[–] klymilark@herbicide.fallcounty.omg.lol 21 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I... Jesus. I had a fucked up childhood, and I know more people who've had fucked up childhoods than most, and this one. Assuming it's all true this one takes the goddam cake. I'd estimate my own situation is probably top 20%, yours is... Well. You made it to adulthood so it's not the worst I've heard of.

While in general men (at least in America) tend to get some unsavory things drilled into them in their upbringing, violence being one of them, it's not common for it to be this level. Being physical with your friends is normal. Violence to that degree is far less so, I've known, as far as I'm aware, no one who is up where your brother is. The most common issue I hear from most people with most men is like... Immaturity. Which, while not great, also is not even on the same plane as punching a cat to death.

[–] sprigatito_bread@lemmy.world 9 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

One of the things that kept me stuck here for so long was the belief that most men were just as violent as my dad and brother were. I took men being physical as evidence that they would kill people who made them angry. Since Dad constantly threatened my life whenever I did something he didn't like, I assumed that men outside would just kill me since there aren't any family ties (which I thought was the only reason my dad spared me).

[–] Shelena@feddit.nl 8 points 7 hours ago

No, most men are not murderers and will not just kill you. People like your father and brother are exceptions in how they behave. There are kind people out there who would never do a thing like that.

In some cases, people who are like your father or brother might feel that you are traumatised and used to that behaviour. So, if you encounter anyone acting like them, leave immediately. Kind people might feel not as familiar, but there are many of them and they might even help or protect you.

I feel for you. You deserve kindness and care. It is a good thing that you are a kind person and that you remained like that even with all you have been through. I hope you find an environment with people who are also like that where you can heal.

The way your family is, is not normal. And the way your life is right now, is not what life should be. And this is not your fault, but it is because of the environment you are in. And this can change.

Maybe you can get help from a domestic violence protection organisation to make sure you have a way to get away safely.

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 61 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I read your first bullet point. Yes, your childhood was fucked. This is nowhere near the typical experience, even for folks with bad home lives.

[–] Strider@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago

Yeah absolutely. I just started reading and whooahh royally fucked

[–] devolution@lemmy.world 39 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

100% upbringing. Like 5% of households. Your childhood was the stuff of nightmares being raised by narcissistic people.

You need an internet hug.

[–] blarghly@lemmy.world -1 points 18 hours ago

Nah, there is probably also a strong genetic component.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 10 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

whistles

Damn. I thought my childhood sucked, but you win. Sorry that happened to you. Many people shouldn't be parents.

Good for you for persevering.

For your question....a very very low percentage. Almost anyone growing up in a household like that is gonna be damaged and either become a psycho like your brother, or end up the polar opposite like you.

Get out NOW. Theyre psychopaths and dangerous.

[–] borax7385@lemmy.world 25 points 20 hours ago

If this is true, this is very fucked up, definitely in the worst 1%. I'm sorry.

[–] BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world 20 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Holy shit. Less than 1% of households. This is not normal for the vast vast majority of people.

Get out and get out fast. Get your personal documents together (birth certificate, passport) and leave.

Its going to be hard and scary at first, but the world outside your family home is far safer than the one inside it.

[–] sprigatito_bread@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I think my parents keep my documents in a safe, which means they'll have to know if I'm leaving. Maybe I can get the police to assist me in retrieving them?

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 16 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Documents can be replaced. They get lost, stolen, or destroyed all the time. You can explain to a clerk that your documents were stolen - technically the truth since they're withheld from you without your consent - and if they press the issue you can explain that your abusive parents won't give you access to them and you cannot ask them for access.

Think about how you frame the information - don't say "my parents have them and won't let me access them" because that sounds potentially benign to a bored clerk just trying to get through the day and not really paying attention. Say, "they were stolen by my abusive parents who I no longer live with," since that front-loads the problem and frames you as the victim, rather than as someone's child. If you can have a friend with you when you go to get your documents that can help. ~~You haven't said how old you are that I saw, so I'm assuming you're still a teen, but even if you're a young adult this can still matter.~~ Okay, I see you said you're an adult.

In an ideal world it shouldn't make a difference, but the way you present what is technically the same information really does matter in getting bureaucrats to help you properly. They are people, and they don't just follow rigid rules, they will be swayed by their emotions and learning to navigate that is a big part of getting the system to work for you.

Also documents like that usually have serial numbers. That's so if they are stolen, they can be registered as invalid, so the thief can't use them to steal your identity. So whatever is in the safe can be made worthless if you get that done. Getting replacements should automatically invalidate the old ones but not every system works the same, so double-check that the old copies will be invalidated.

It depends a little bit on where you are but in general I wouldn't trust the cops to be helpful, unless you somehow know for a fact that they will help and not just return you to your family. I hate to say that but they fundamentally exist to protect property and a lot of them accept society's logic that children are the property of their parents, and if you're striking out on your own it's important for you to learn that cops aren't your frends. People like your dad & brother become cops specifically because it gives them power over others.

It's also likely your parents will simply lie and try to convince the cops that you should be back with them. Not to say they will be successful, but once you're away from the home I would absolutely try to eliminate any contact you make after that. I don't want to scare you too much, but also these people have a pattern. They usually know how to talk to cops, since they tend to talk the same language. Your parents likely keep the documents away from you in order to keep you controlled, so they will know that this is an opportunity for them to reel you back in. I wouldn't give them the chance.

I would look up teen shelters, and if you can find a group of people who you believe have your interests at heart then you can ask them for help. All of this will be a lot easier if you can find allies. If you can find any mutual aid organisations near you - "food not bombs" is a common name to look for - they may know other orgs willing & able to help, or they may just have people who are willing themselves.

[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

I spent the majority of my life up to this point surrounded by military veterans/civilian employees with dark senses of humor.

This is pretty fucked up, even by those standards.

For a terrible joke: it has to be from the Hapsburg family to be Royally fucked up, everything else is just sparkling abuse

[–] thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world 13 points 18 hours ago

Like .001%.

Escape as soon as possible. Cut all ties with these people

[–] mavu@discuss.tchncs.de -2 points 8 hours ago

Not reading all that, because if you have to ask, then the answer is yes.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 17 points 20 hours ago

I feel like you won the shit lottery. There are varying degrees of fucked-upedness, and it varies by region/culture/economic status, but that list seems like you've experienced a disproportionately shitty upbringing.

I'm sorry you had to go through that, and I hope you're able to surround yourself with more normal people.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 15 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

If you're underaged, record this stuff and go to CPS. If you're a young adult, find a local support group and make plans to leave without any notice.

[–] sprigatito_bread@lemmy.world 17 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Fortunately (or unfortunately?) I'm an adult, so at least I have more options.

I'm still deprogramming from all of this stuff. I have my first therapy appointment next week and I'm starting to realize that my situation might be particularly spicy. I kind of thought on some level that this totalitarian control is just the average conservative household and I just had to deal with it for a little longer. But now that my brother is getting angrier and making death threats against my own parents, I'm starting to think that my only option is to get the FUCK out of here.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 17 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

You need to leave.

Preferably in the next three to five minutes. Grab your shit and go. Even homelessness is better than this.

[–] sprigatito_bread@lemmy.world 9 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (3 children)

Even homelessness is better than this.

I'm worried about freezing to death. Do you know of any decent cities in the U.S.? I have enough money to get a plane ticket to any state in the country.

[–] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

Not from the US but Hawaii always looked like a nice place.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 7 points 20 hours ago

West coast is pretty ideal. Any major city will do, make sure you’re in an urban environment for support, comfort, and a healthy society.

Make sure they can’t find you.

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Do you have any skills, education, or any means of finding work?

[–] sprigatito_bread@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

I learned to program on my own pretty decently and made a website that a few thousand people use in a niche gaming community. I basically built a free product that's very useful to a specific set of people.

Unfortunately, my college plans got sidetracked because I developed a chronic illness and it's been hard to go places and pay attention to lectures. I tried online college at home, but my brother's violence made it impossible to focus. Without a source of income, trying to continue with college might be risky, since I may not find a way to repay all of the debt.

[–] mrmaplebar@fedia.io 7 points 19 hours ago

If I were you I'd focus almost entirely on getting almost any job and making friends somewhere.

  • Whether we like it or not, in this world, money is our ticket to independence. Whatever you do or wherever you end up going, you're going need some kind of regular income to survive.
  • A job will take up some of your time and get you out of the house and away from these people. Friends will do the same.
  • The cost of living is expensive, and having some kind of friends and roommates who you like and trust is an invaluable asset to living a stable and happy life right now. Even with a decent job it can be hard to afford to live on your own, so having a couple decent roommates makes things a lot easier. Some people (like myself) are lucky enough to have a great family as a support network, but you're going to need to lean into friends. If you have some decent friends online who are interested in maybe being roommates, that might point you in a solid direction of where you can go next.
[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 7 points 19 hours ago

Hmm. I’d suggest adding some sort of tip jar to your website if you haven’t already. Luckily programming is a solid skill that you can monetize to help free yourself from your toxic environment. Perhaps you can do contract programming jobs on a site like fiverr (other commenters may have better suggestions on where you could find work for that)

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago

I found this. https://www.togetherestranged.org/

Put together a Bug Out Bag. Even if you don't think you can leave right now, just put it together.

[–] mrmaplebar@fedia.io 11 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Your brother and dad sound potentially like psychopaths and/or sociopaths.

It's one thing to like violence in media, but once you start bringing violence into your life against animals and people, it is a massive red flag that this person is not alright and is potentially very dangerous.

I think it would be in your best interest to figure out a way to put as much distance as possible between your family and you. That might mean getting a job if you don't have one already, making trustworthy and kind friends in your area who might be willing to be your roommate, putting physical distance between you and them by moving somewhere else, filling your free time with activities outside of the house, and so on.

(Also, if you can get any pets or animals to a safe place, then I highly recommend doing it as soon as you can.)

Mom and Dad were authoritarian parents who never gave us comfort or affection. They were very impatient and demanding. Dad would physically and verbally abuse us. Mom would do nothing to intervene. Even when he threw a goddamn toddler across the living room.

While this isn't normal or right, it's also sadly more common than it should be. So many kids are raised in bad or abusive situations and it's fucking awful.

I'm sorry that you grew up in such rough circumstances, and I hope that you're able to cope and find peace with it as you grow further into adulthood. You can't really fix your past, but what you can do is work towards creating the future for yourself and for the people that you love that is significantly better than what you were given as a child.

From a young age I became intensely sexually attracted to receiving nurture and affection. This created far fewer awkward moments than one might think, thanks to the environment I lived in, but it led to paralyzing insecurities later since it was a behavior my parents never exhibited and mainstream pornography didn't showcase it.

While you're understandably being a little vague about this, it sounds like you're saying you have a kink, right?

Well, kinks are by definition atypical, right? But as long as they only involve consenting adults engaging in reasonably safe activities, then there is absolutely nothing inherently wrong or unethical about them.

As someone in the kink space myself, I think that as long as what you're into is consensual, ethical, responsible and legal, then just let your freak flag fly and embrace that side of yourself. (Of course, if your kink is ethically or legally problematic, it goes without saying that you ought to get professional help with that before hurting yourself and others.)

Kink can be just as core to a person's sexuality as any other preference or orientation, in my view, so there's very little point to fighting against it or letting it drag you down a spiral of shame and self-negativity. Instead, I think the vast majority of kinky people are much better off accepting and embracing their unique interests, meeting other people in that space (for fun, but also just to know that you aren't alone), and enjoying yourself. It's much easier said than done, of course, but it's worth the emotional investment to try.

There's a lot more to human sexuality than what "mainstream porn" offers, and I promise you that whatever niche thing you're into, you can absolutely 100% find other people who share that interest.

I believed that nobody would ever like me because I was sensitive and wanted care and was shamed for those things. I struggled with masculine gender roles and felt like I was unwanted by the world. I became suicidal and wanted other people to hurt me.

I'm so sorry that you've been through all of this emotional turmoil.

Being a "man" isn't about being tough, violent, angry, driving a big truck or being full of rage... It's about being a good father, husband, boyfriend, son, uncle, mentor, teacher, protector, citizen, etc. You dad and your brother don't know the first fucking thing about it, frankly.

You really need to put some distance between the bad people in your life and go out and meet some good people, because they do exist. You will absolutely find that there are kind, loving, caring, protective, empathetic, responsible, thoughtful, and just decent people out there.

Unfortunately, you have to put in some extra effort to find them while getting away from the assholes in your life, but you will find them I promise.

[–] sprigatito_bread@lemmy.world 6 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

it sounds like you’re saying you have a kink, right?

Pretty much, but my kink is literally just being held and playfully overwhelmed with kisses. My brain would constantly tell me that I'd never be able to find a partner because the thing that turned me on was too childish and female-dominant. I started feeling better than I realized that I likely only felt so much shame about this because of my parents' contempt for giving comfort and affection, coloring the act as taboo.

[–] classic@fedia.io 1 points 1 hour ago

just to help normalize your kink, variations on it have been covered in mainstream press before. like there are people who provide affection proffessionally, for instance

[–] mrmaplebar@fedia.io 4 points 11 hours ago

Oh yeah, you can find that no problem if you put yourself out there. :)

First you just gotta focus on getting out of your rough living situation though.

Wishing you the best, my friend.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 9 points 19 hours ago

JFC

I am a manly guy and no, none of this is normal, none of this is "manly", and what you went through is just insane and I wish I could give you a hug, man....

Get out

Leave

Now

The more time you stay there, the more risk you're running. You can't save them, you can't save their future victims, but you can save yourself. Save yourself.

You can't choose your family, but you can find good friends who will care for you. Build a new life with them and slowly forget the hell you were brought up in.

[–] Reyali@lemmy.world 7 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

The book The Sociopath Next Door asserts that up to 4% of people are sociopaths, defined as people who lack empathy and conscience. Many sociopaths end up being celebrities, politicians, or CEOs, as they seek fame/power/money and don’t have empathy for others acting as an internal ethical conscience; not all end up violent.

Your father and brother, and possibly even mother fall on this scale. They are just on the extreme violent side of it.

So how many households are like yours? I’d assert, based on that book, it’s a max of 4%. But more likely it’s significantly lower than that since yours is on the extreme side.

The majority of people are not like them.

[–] Fandangalo@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

If you think about it as “What’s the percentage chance that 1 of 4 family members is a sociopath? What’s the percentage that 2 family members are sociopaths?”, then I think it has to be less than 4%. Genetics make it more likely than 4% * 4%, I think.

[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 2 points 2 hours ago

Partners in a family are not fully random and that might skew the statistics. Besides, I would expect upbringing to play a bigger role than genetics

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 5 points 18 hours ago

Anedotes:

Dad is kinda chill except like a few instances of rage and he one time tried to break a computer because of me and my brother's "computer addiction", and some times broke bowls/plates.

Never actually threw things at us...

My older brother...

Oh jeez

The earliest memory I have is him using zip ties to restrain me because he was annoyed by me, his younger brother that's 5 years younger than him. He was like 11... jesus christ

I can't imagine how much abuse he might've done to me when I was even younger and didn't remember due to childhood amnesia.

He chased me around the house trying to beat me when I just dashed outside the door and ran out of the apartment into the city, I was 6 years old in the city of Guangzhou, China.

I was that scared that I just went looking for my mom at her workplace (been there before and I remember the way). My mom was so shocked that I even know how to get there when I later told her. She left work when my grandma who was watching us (good job, grandma, my brother was fighting me and she didn't even do anything) at home called her, and so she left work to call the police for help to look for me. So I didn't find her at work so I just took the bus again to go home. Bus driver didn't give a shit about the fare lol.

I remember my mother used to slap me in the palm of my hand when I was in China, but didn't really do it as much once we arrived in the US because the fear of CPS (Child Protection Services)

In Brooklyn, NY, I remember sometimes I was at home with my brother while parents went outside for something, and I remember being in fights a lot. I was so scared all the time.

When in school, I got bullied by both male and female classmates, so theres that.

But my brother never killed an animal, yet.

I have a cat home... its still alive so... not as fucked as your situation.

But yea my brother is a racial supremacist, he hates black and brown people.

I have a lot of moments where there was a lot of yelling in the house, stuff being thrown, mom and my older brother fighting... so yeah... my abusive family abusing each other... just another day...

I don't think this is exclusively a male thing tho.

But your situation definitely sounds more fucked up than mine.

And yeah that "CPS = Bad" is something that my mom always said to me... doesn't help that we're immigrants so its even scarier for an immigrant child like me to even think of reporting anything... I mean we could've gotten deported...

Mom keeps telling me that authorities are bad and don't involve them in any domestic violence, but then turns around and threatens to call the police on me for "misbehaving".

This ain't China, mom, American cops just gonna shoot all of us lmfao.

[–] scrollo@lemmy.world 7 points 20 hours ago

I knew some families with that behavior. They are rare, but extremely hurtful. Look into trauma therapy (and ask a therapist what makes them qualified for that, instead of taking their word). You may have developed some hidden coping mechanisms just to survive, and a (good) therapist can help you determine if those mechanisms help or hurt you.

Your brother's behavior seems extremely uncommon, to say the least. I can't imagine that behavior being tolerated in a (functional) work place.

I wish you the best.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 19 hours ago

I'm genuinely sorry that this has been your life up until now, and I'd like to offer genuine hope that it can get better. You're on the right track, seeking support, clarity, and safety.

From your description above, I can sadly say that my childhood was horrifically similar, and even though I escaped into homelessness as a teen (note: I thought I was punk AF and could survive anything, though I very nearly didn't. Even w/o a drug addiction, etc. the experience was close to lethal several times over), it took me until I was in my mid-20s to finally cut them all out of my life.

Fast forward, and I've spent a considerable amount of my career either focusing on outreach for those in need, or somehow involving support for those communities in whatever I was making a living at.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is this: once you're safe and making progress on what you feel is important to your own life, it matters very little indeed what they're doing with theirs. 🖖🏽 Get safe, find your happiness, seek your own ways to make this world better for others like you. ❤️‍🔥 Only then can you plant those proverbial shade trees.

[–] new_world_odor@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

I have been a pretty social person in a previous part of my life, getting to know hundreds of people on a relatively deep level, due to the circumstances I was in. Most people do not look at the world like your family does. The majority of men I know do have more outward aggression than I do, but they channel it through healthy outlets (sports and exercise). That being said, I myself also have a hard time feeling safe around men (even though I am one myself), mainly when I don't know them. This is primarily because of my size (short and not bulky) but also my sense of empathy, which I feel leaves me vulnerable to those lacking it.

I don't know if you are, but you should be proud of yourself for turning out like you did. The fact that their behavior is so horrific to you shows your moral standard hasn't been tarnished or corrupted. If anything I would imagine it's been solidified. Your childhood was absolutely, royally fucked. I've heard many stories of childhood abuse; the worst ones, most heartbreaking ones, etc. I would say your experiences are in that same boat. To guesstimate, I think yours is probably in the worst 5% or rarer.

Not to be too bleak but I think staying is just as much of a risk to your safety as leaving. Who knows when one of them might snap and try to kill you? That's an absolutely hellish environment to try to survive in.

Listen, I don't know you but I love you. I love you for holding steadfast resolve through pitch-black suffocating darkness. I love you for your light refusing to be snuffed out. The piece of yourself that you've displayed here is beautiful and it deserves the best. If there were more people like you around, the world at large would be happier.

I don't pray but I will be meditating today and sending positive intent your way. If you need someone to talk to, this is me making myself available. I don't have much going on but too much extra time. Don't feel obligated to that, or to even reply. I just hope this helps, and that you succeed on your hike out of hell. I have faith in you.

If this is for real, I'm sorry and wow. Certainly less than 1%. That part where he believes himself to be a deity and that his seminal fluid makes him powerful is crazy. Anyway, even for someone who has had heavy parent-related trauma, limited intellectual capacities, no moral framework, and almost certainly being on the spectrum, this is just outrageous.

[–] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

Sorry that happened to you OP. Get out as soon as you can. If you have to apply for the army or whatever to do that then do. That environment is dangerous. Get away from them and dont look back. Wishing you the best OP.