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Gettyimages.com/MEMPHIS, TN ? MARCH 26: African-American couple embrace with passion and kissing in a nightclub on a Saturday night in South Memphis, Tennessee on March 26, 1983. The club or bar is “Red’s Lounge” and a venue for Delta Blues music. Bottles of beverages including beer and Coca-Cola are on the table. (Photo by Nathan Benn/Corbis via Getty Images)

If you’ve had the misfortunate of falling into a relationship with a controlling, possessive, and critical partner, and then the strength to extricate yourself from that relationship (and it requires a lot of strength because those men don’t let go easily) then you know life is never quite the same again. You approach dating and new relationships with a lot of caution. You see interactions with potential partners through a new lens. When you’ve escaped the living hell that is a relationship with a controlling man, you never, ever want to go back. Many women would even say they were lucky to have the experience because it made them forever stronger. But, some women never get out of those situations so I wouldn’t advise going and tracking one down for the growing experience—you may never escape. Here is how life changes forever after having a controlling partner.

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Your social life must be respected

You will not put up with a man who asks you to change plans you already had, in order to see him. You won’t accept anything less than a man who is happy you have a life outside of him and respects it.

Serious Question: What's The Dumbest Thing Your Husband Has Ever Done?

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You have a zero-tolerance policy on jealousy

You know that where there is a lit bit of jealousy, there is a lot more to come. So if a man you’ve just started dating insinuates that you were flirting with someone else, or that you shouldn’t hang out with other men, you end things right there and then. Or at least you tell him you won’t tolerate that, and see how he responds.

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You don’t apologize if you don’t have to

More on that last note, you don’t apologize if you haven’t done something wrong. If a man gets angry with you because you hugged a male friend or didn’t text for three hours, you say, “That’s your sh*t that you have to own. I didn’t do anything wrong and am not going to apologize.”

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You require full disclosure of their history

Controlling, possessive men tend to have relationships that ended explosively—possibly with restraining orders and blowout public fights. So, they’ll be vague about past relationships. That’s why you explicitly require new men to be open with you about how their last relationships ended, so you can watch out for guys who are sketchy around the topic.