Girls, Why has my girlfriend lost respect for me after obtaining the dominant role in our relationship?

[Anonymous]

I’ll jump straight into it, I am 19 and my girlfriend is soon to be 25 and initially in our relationship I was considered as and was the dominant one but after time that has all changed. I have been finding myself losing the “manliness” in our relationship and it hasn’t even been brought up at all and when I have tried to hint at it once in the past it was just disregarded and overlooked. My girlfriend started off very well with me being the dominant one but over the course of the past few months she has been taking it all from me, I don’t exactly disagree with or mind all of it but since she has ‘stolen’ the dominant role I have felt my respect in the relationship decline. I am totally unaware of why my respect has been lowered due to this because as far as I know, this is exactly what she wanted and I adjusted for her. I’ll clear it up, my dominance hasn’t just been lost overnight, it’s been over a few months now and I just put it down to ‘experimenting’ but now I can’t help but feel like she feels as though I am below her now and that I am able to be walked over. It was quite difficult for me to express this into words and without a doubt there will be some complications within my message, I would just like some input from people and know what should my next move be or how much longer I should leave it before mentioning something to her.

[SueShe]

What I fail to understand is why there has to be domination in a relationship. Can a relationship not grow on equal base? Domination, as defined by the dictionary is:

"the exercise of power or influence over someone or something, or the state of being so controlled".

Why do you let yourself be controlled in life or why did you have to control your girlfriend earlier in your relationship? What's this monkey business about wanting to control others?

If you want your relationship to work out, then nobody controls anybody. That is totally unhealthy and will lead to a break in your relationship.

[Anonymous]

A relationship is two people right?

A relationship is not about ownership right?

You either meet someone halfway or they will give up on you.

[Nikki1989]

Why would you feel the need to dominant?

[Asker]

I feel as though women expect and appreciate having the backbone from their male partners, having the assertive and taking charge motive whilst also allowing space for them to fill in.

I suppose that also dominance not in a form of intimacy but just in everyday life in a relationship can be attractive for the other person, giving stability or security.

It gives me the impression as now she’s presumably subconsciously taking on this role more and more each day I won’t be able to provide such things mentioned above without arguments being caused and I don’t want one. The person who I was when I met her was the person she fell in love with and I am no longer able to provide these things due to the few changes.

What I have listed here isn’t all of what I could go into, and I know that not all women are the same, the few examples I specified are just what I personally fear are slipping away out from my reach in my relationship.

[Abbycado]

Why you gotta dominate your girl, hmm?

[Anonymous]

What do u mean she’s dominant?