When people asked how I met my ex-partner, I often felt awkward and made a vague comment about how we used to ‘perform together’, which was only part of the truth. We met when I was 16: even though he wasn’t my personal teacher, he was a teacher at the music service where I used to study. We stayed in touch after I left at age 18 to study at a music conservatoire and we started dating when I was 20, moving in with eachother within 2 weeks. He was 17 years my senior.
Have you considered the possibility that it had nothing to do with power imbalance? That you simply went with that narrative to save face?
It seems to me like he simply really wanted kids, and when you couldn’t provide those for him, he left you for someone who could. It could really be that simple, and I’ve seen this type of situation before.
This possibility is only further supported by the fact that he left you for someone even younger, demonstrating that, at least for him, power imbalance was never an issue. If it had been, he would have left for someone closer to his own age.
Have you considered the possibility that it had nothing to do with power imbalance? That you simply went with that narrative to save face?
It seems to me like he simply really wanted kids, and when you couldn’t provide those for him, he left you for someone who could. It could really be that simple, and I’ve seen this type of situation before.
This possibility is only further supported by the fact that he left you for someone even younger, demonstrating that, at least for him, power imbalance was never an issue. If it had been, he would have left for someone closer to his own age.