History of Feminism

other than maybe crazy for dating or marrying me...

The thing is, though, when I was going through my divorce and after it was finalized, the women I dated expected me to say bad things about my ex-wife. If I didn't, which was most of the time, I was accused of still being hung up on her. (And, if you tell me I should have kept quiet about being divorced - I met a terrific woman right after my divorce and did not tell her right away that I had just been divorced. However, she got upset when I told her a few dates later, and that was basically it for the relationship. So, I told myself I would always be up front about it after that.)

Heck, when my ex-wife first filed for divorce, she asked me if I was going to counter-sue her for mental abuse (i.e., the thing crazy exes are supposed to be famous for...). My ex was an otherwise intelligent, strong-willed, confident, progressive woman - but, also felt she was that (soon to be) crazy ex herself in that situation. But, I was not going to counter-sue her or accuse her of mental abuse or anything like that.

So, it's not just something that guys do, it's something women also sometimes expect in those situations. I think this situation is so common after breakups that both men & women need to work on not denigrating an ex wife, girlfriend, husband or boyfriend. (If there was actual physical or mental abuse, adultery, etc, then that's another story.)