AITA for demanding my girlfriend tells me her author’s pen name?
A Redditor shares their frustration about their girlfriend’s secrecy surrounding her career as an author. After discovering that she writes romance and erotica under a pen name, the user insisted she reveal it, feeling entitled to know more about her work.
Despite her refusal, citing concerns about privacy and trust, the user attempted to access her laptop to find the pen name themselves. This breach of trust led to a heated argument, with the girlfriend ultimately asking the user to leave. Read the full story below.
‘ AITA for demanding my girlfriend tells me her author’s pen name?’
I’ve (m32) been dating Siobhan (f32) for 6 months now. She’s always been very vague about what she does for a living (sati things like writing and working from home writing) but recently, one of her friends mentioned something and I finally dragged it out of her.
She’s an author, she write and self published romance and erotica stories and novels and while not rich, she’s able to make a living out of it. I googled her name and couldn’t find anything so I confronted her about this.
She said she’s writing under a pen name so I demanded she gives it to me so I know what she does. She refuses saying she doesn’t want it to be leaked even by accident and no one knows. I accused her of not trusting me and she still refused which was really annoying.
I tried nicer approach and told her that I want to know her fantasies so I can try it out with her and she told me that what she writes aren’t her fantasies but her readers and she’s still not going to tell me. At night I tried to check her laptop for her pen name but she changed her password before bed.
I was annoyed and told her she clearly doesn’t trust me and it’s not fair because I have a right to know what she writes especially since it’s a sensitive topic and I don’t know her if I don’t know her pen name. She was furious I tried to look on her laptop and told me to go home.
Before leaving I told her when she calls to apologize, I expect to get her pen name with the apology. She called me an a**hole on my way out. I thought she’d call by now but she hasn’t. My sister told me I was the a**hole and I should apologize but I just don’t see it and need. Second opinion. Was I the a**hole?
Heres the input from the Reddit crowd:
thirdtryisthecharm − YTA. I have a right to know what she writes. Based on what? You WANT to know what she writes – don’t confuse that with having any sort of RIGHT to the information.
CrystalQueen3000 − YTA. Well you’re just a walking red flag OP, demanding, controlling and feel like it’s your right to snoop.. That’s just grim.. Enjoy being single
Steelguitarlane − YTA with bells on. She wants to write erotica from the safety of anonymity. You don’t get to remove that. You’re a double a**hole for expecting an apology. If she were here, half the sub (more like 95%) would be urging her to d**p your controlling ass that would probably doxx her in the event of a messy breakup.
OkeyDokey234 − I can’t believe she doesn’t trust me, he said, as he attempted to break into her laptop.
MimosaVendetta − YTA!! 100% YTA! You have been dating for 6 months. Erotica writers can face horrible situations if they are recognized by fans or by people who disagree with what they write.
Also, if she’s making a living this way and you were to find out she writes something you don’t like, would you start pressuring her to stop? That’s a bridge she’s not ready to cross with you. Respect her boundaries and keep your hands OFF her work equipment.
[Reddit User] − YTA
You are absolutely *not* e**itled to any of her information and the fact that you think otherwise is frightening. Period.. I tried nicer approach No, you tried to manipulate her and thankfully she didn’t fall for it. when she calls to apologize, I expect…. You should expect to be dumped.. Again, YTA.
nondickhead − Yta – you come across as someone who would threaten to rage-leak her name every time she displeased you
VastPainter − “She said she didn’t trust me, so I waited until she was asleep and tried to log onto her laptop.” Sounds like she was right not to trust you. YTA, for sure.
[Reddit User] − You realize you’re posting here on Reddit using a pen name, right?. Do your friends know it? Does she?
See where we’re going with this….?
khelpi − YTA , I don’t know how you wrote this entire post and didn’t realize it. You started by demanding, not asking, for her pen name. You’ve only been dating for six months and she told you she isn’t comfortable sharing yet- and instead of understanding and giving her time you reacted angrily.
Then you tried a m**ipulative approach- feigning interest in her fantasies to get it out of her. This is doubly bad since you assumed without asking that what she does professionally is a personal kink for her???
She said no again, so you ignored her boundaries and went behind her back to try and find out yourself. This is also a breach of privacy. You assumed you had a right to know something she wasn’t ready to share even after you proved yourself untrustworthy. And to top it all off, you left saying you expected an apology like you’re some kind of victim when she did nothing wrong.
Do you think the user had a right to know their girlfriend’s pen name, or was their insistence a violation of her privacy? How important do you believe trust and boundaries are in a relationship, especially regarding personal work? Share your thoughts below!