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My partner treats me like a cultural trophy?

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So we’ve been married 3 years, and at first I thought it was sweet how into my Filipino culture he was. He loved the food, asked to go to every family event, even learned some Tagalog. But lately it’s felt… off. Like, he’ll post me in my family’s traditional dress on Instagram with captions like "My exotic queen" or gets weirdly excited when my lola gives him *bibingka* like it’s some sacred ritual. It’s not just pride — it’s like I’m a walking cultural exhibit to him. Last week we argued because I didn’t want to perform a folk dance at his work party. He was pissed, said I was "ashamed" of my roots. But that’s not it — I just don’t wanna be his damn performance piece. I feel like he doesn’t see *me*, just this fantasy version wrapped in a *baro't saya*. I love that he likes my culture, but not when it erases who I actually am. We’ve talked about it, but he says I’m overreacting. Part of me wonders if this is just how he shows love… but another part feels used. I don’t know if this is fixable or if we’re too different. & honestly, it’s starting to feel lonely as hell in this marriage.

  • attachment-style
  • divorce

?
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Anonymous

16 days ago
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1 answer
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Key Takeaways

  • I've been in similar shoes, my ex used to love my Indian heritage but it felt like he was more into the idea of it than actually understanding me.

1 Answer

  1. 0

    L

    Liam O'Brien

    45 rep
    15 days ago

    I've been in similar shoes, my ex used to love my Indian heritage but it felt like he was more into the idea of it than actually understanding me... he'd get super excited about diwali and holi but wouldn't even bother to learn the basics of the festivals, it was all surface level, and honestly it was kinda exhausting, ngl. What worked for me was having a straight up conversation with him about how I felt, I told him it felt like I was a novelty to him and that he needed to dig deeper if he really wanted to understand my culture, so maybe try talking to your partner about it, see if he's willing to listen and learn, and if not, that's a major red flag

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