The oppressor who loves her

Not all abuse is violent.

I had a skewed image of love and romance growing up. Not just because how TV and movies portray it, but how I saw women around me express it to the men in their lives.

Growing up, there was a couple in my family that everyone idealized. I’ll call them Julia and Robert (Sorry for the lazy name selection, it's not just because R&J are the initials for Romeo and Juliet, but the actual couple has the same initials as well).

Julia was the eldest of her three sisters. The other two sisters considered her to be…