AITA for not letting my roommate wear something she stole from me?

A Redditor found their roommate wearing their dress, which had been taken without permission, just before an important dinner. Despite the roommate’s pleas to keep it on, the Redditor insisted she change, leading to the roommate missing the event. The situation escalated when the roommate’s boyfriend accused the Redditor of being an AH. Read the full story below:

‘ AITA for not letting my roommate wear something she stole from me?’

Last night my roommate was about to leave for some fancy dinner she was attending at her boyfriend’s parent’s house and I noticed she was wearing my dress. I asked her if it was mine and she said yes. I asked her if she had gone into my room while I wasn’t there and taken it and she sheepishly said yes.

Just to be clear, we don’t have that kind of relationship, we’re friendly but not friends, so this felt like a huge violation. I told her to take it off and find something else to wear. She began crying and said she had nothing else to wear that would work for the event.

I said too bad if she had asked me first it would have been a totally different story. I’m not cool with her just taking my things without permission. She ended up having a temper tantrum and not going. Her boyfriend texted me later on and said I was an a**hole. AITA here?

Here’s the feedback from the Reddit community:

actually_kate −  NTA LOL, she’s a thief who’s trying to guilt-trip YOU. People like that are just looking for people to take advantage of. They want you to think you’re the AH so they can pull stuff like this on you again in the future.

Z-Dog-0417 −  NTA. Get a lock and key for your door

James-Greeny −  NTA you are definitely not the a**hole your roommate stole from you and then threw a tantrum when you asked for YOUR dress back. She Sounds extremely entitled.

NotANoodleCat −  NTA, and this still wouldn’t be fine if you were friends. You ask before you use someone else’s things?

Leavix −  Her boyfriend texted you because she couldn’t look presentable enough for dinner at his parents house? I feel like it’s not exactly your task to provide her with nice clothes if he has that kind of standards. NTA.

[Reddit User] −  NTA. I would be looking for a new roommate. That is a huge violation of trust.

SlytherClaw3 −  NTA. Wtf. She didn’t have the basic decency to ask you if she could borrow it. She invaded your privacy – *when you weren’t home* and then has the audacity to blame you for her not going to that dinner and not herself? Yeesh.

ConsistentDeal2 −  Info- how are you sharing a lease with a toddler?

[Reddit User] −  Classic AITA. Obviously you’re not and know it. Why are friends and family always getting involved and calling the OP in these stories?

carrieblue87 −  NTA. Who just goes and takes someone else’s clothes without asking? Especially if you don’t have that sort of swapping clothes kind of relationship. It’s weird to me!

Was the Redditor right to enforce their boundaries, or should they have let their roommate wear the dress for one night? How should situations like this be handled in shared living spaces? Share your thoughts below!