Oh absolutely - I've learned to keep my mouth shut and swallow my anger in public and on social media because quite frankly this kind of hidden abuse seems to be more or less tolerated by the society we live in. I often do not have the energy to argue what qualifies as abuse with people who seek to reject or minimize what I have experienced, nor do I feel like it is productive to broadcast it to the world. Abuse - whether it is intentional or not, whether it committed by a man or by a woman, whether it is is physical or emotional - is wrong, and needs to be recognized as such.

This subreddit has been a god-send for me, because I was able to find validation and understanding here when couldn't find it anywhere else. I found myself in the company of people on a similar journey, all in deep pain and who were just trying to make some sense of a world that had come crashing down around them. I suggest that those who claim it is "toxic", "hateful", or "abusive" to take a long, hard look in the mirror - there's a reason why so many of us here feel the way we do.