This past weekend, me (23M) and my girlfriend (20F) went to EDC together with my group of friends. During that time, we met with one of my friends and when leaving we went for a hug. Honestly I was a bit intoxicated so I don’t fully know the details, but my girlfriend said that she jumped up to hug me and had her arms around my neck, was swaying back and forth, and just held on for too long. My girlfriend also saw her face and said that she was enjoying it a bit too much.

The thing is that the girl was there with her boyfriend and me and her have never had a romantic connection at all. I was also a bit confused on what to do in this situation, but to my girlfriend she said that it should be very clear that I should be pushing her off. It just didn’t seem appropriate to push off a friend for giving a hug. However, my girlfriend says that this was not just a hug and my girlfriend took this as me even choosing my friend over her since I’d know how this would affect her, especially when she was right next to us.

My girlfriend openly says she is jealous and possessive and that she wants to work on it but in this situation she feels that I was in the wrong. She justifies it by saying that every couple has different boundaries and that I should know that these are her boundaries since I should know how she is.

I genuinely didn’t know what to do and for the entire second day of EDC, she was upset so I was trying to comfort her. My friends were trying to leave the third day since we were their ride for EDC, but she was breaking down over the incident in the morning and my friends had to find another ride. I don’t get to see my friends often and they all flew over to be with me, and a part of me honestly felt a little resentment towards her for ruining this trip over what I felt was just a hug.

I did assure her that I would work on making sure the situation doesn’t happen again, maybe by just going for side hugs in the future because honestly I’m still not comfortable with the idea of pushing someone off during a hug. But when we would continue talking about the incident, she felt I wasn’t validating her feelings even though I talked to her about how I’d prevent it from happening again in the future and how sorry I was for it happening. She would constantly bring it up and I’d ask her why she would bring it up when we’d already talked about it and she said she would feel like she couldn’t even talk to me and broke down for hours.

I wouldn’t be able to tell her that I felt like it wasn’t a huge deal without her feeling like I was invalidating her feelings and trying to tell her how to feel. There’s been past situations where she’d cuddled and held hands with my friend where we hadn’t fully established boundaries yet and I told her that I wouldn’t guilt trip her in the past because I’d understand there are situations that happen in a relationship where we are still getting to know each other’s boundaries. However, she’d take this as me telling her how to feel and she’d say that everyone responds to situations differently and she doesn’t mean to guilt trip me but is just telling me how she feels.

We’ve since resolved the situation by talking over the incident for multiple days and giving her reassurance. But a part of me still doesn’t feel right about this situation. I feel like maybe I am being a bit insensitive but I also feel that her reaction is not fully justified either.

tldr: female friend gave a hug that my girlfriend felt was too intimate because she wrapped her arms around my neck, was swaying, held on for too long, and seemed to enjoy it a bit too much even though she was with her boyfriend. My girlfriend felt this was a huge lack of respect towards her and her boundaries and felt that I was being inconsiderate. She would continue to constantly bring this situation up and ruined my trip with my friends and her over it. I’m not sure how to take this incident and am unsure if her response is appropriate and how I am supposed to move forward.

3 comments
  1. It wasn’t just the hug. It was the embarrassment she felt over her boyfriend letting another girl hang on him like that. And you ARE invalidating her feelings. She doesn’t want you to fake it and tell her what she wants to hear, she wants you to genuinely understand and it’s clear from this post that you don’t and probably won’t.

  2. Awful that she ruined the rest of the music festival for you guys.. if you want to stay with this girlfriend of yours you will have to stop hugging any other females- that’s the only solution she would be satisfied with.. whenever a female friend tries to hug you, back off & state to them, “my girlfriend doesn’t want me hugging other ladies, sorry!”

    That or.. break up with this chick.

  3. I think she is slightly overreacting. I mean if you were drunk, then your friend was probably drunk or tipsy as well, I would assume. Then can it occur that she holds you a sek longer with a goofy grin. Of course she can voice her concern about it, but I don’t think she shouldn’t guilt trip you. I get a bit of a abusive vibe from her. You said you see your friends not so often and exactly at the day you would meet them she has a meltdown? I feel like she tries to isolate you. Of course I have no evidence or know her, so you are to judge OP.

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