Men With Zero Pride Almost Always Use 10 Manipulative Phrases To Make Women Feel Sorry For Them
Koldunov | ShutterstockPeople who resort to manipulation usually do it to gain more power in the relationship. When this is combined with a total lack of pride, it becomes even more dangerous.
Anyone can act this way, but it’s especially common for men who want to control women’s emotions to make them feel bad for them so they give them the benefit of the doubt. These phrases are some of the biggest red flags that a man is playing games with your emotions, and it's time to move on.
Men who don’t have any pride and want women to feel sorry for them use these manipulative phrases to get what they want:
1. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you’
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This phrase sounds really nice on the surface, but it’s hiding a darker meaning. A man who says this is basically saying he wouldn’t be able to make it without the woman he loves, which implies that she shouldn’t even think of leaving him if she really cares.
People weaponize guilt like this to get someone else to do what they want. Men who do this repeatedly destroy women’s mental health, but they aren’t really concerned about that. They just want to get their way.
2. ‘No one has ever loved me like you do’
Someone could say something along these lines with complete sincerity, but that’s not how these men mean it. Instead, it’s how they signal to a woman that she’s being compared to other people. She has expectations to live up to, and she has to prove she’s better than those people from the past.
There’s a reason people are warned against comparing themselves to others, though. It’s never helpful, including when it’s done in a relationship. Women can’t feel happy and secure in these circumstances, and they’ll slowly lose any confidence they had.
3. ‘I could never be as strong as you’
Pointing out someone’s strength is usually a compliment. Some men take advantage of that to make it harder for women to realize what their true intentions are.
This is the perfect phrase to use when a man wants to hand his responsibilities over to someone else. It’s like he’s telling the woman that she can handle more because she’s stronger than he is. All this does is increase her mental and emotional load while making his own lighter.
4. ‘I’m such a horrible person’
It would be totally understandable to mistake this for some kind of indirect apology, but it’s really just how bad men shift attention away from the things they don’t want women to focus on, like their bad behavior.
These kinds of men won’t want to admit they messed up, so they’ll make the conversation about their weaknesses instead. Then women will feel like they should comfort them and make them believe that they aren’t horrible, even if it means not addressing the real problem.
Deflection like this can easily turn into gaslighting. It’s a way for that man to redefine reality so that it suits him better, almost always at the expense of the woman he’s supposed to care about.
5. ‘I only did that because I love you’
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In a healthy relationship, partners validate each other’s feelings and apologize when they cause harm, whether it was intentional or not. This is the exact opposite. Manipulative men say this to avoid taking responsibility for what they say and do.
Instead of acknowledging that he hurt the woman he loves, this man is saying it’s not his fault at all. His behavior was rooted in his love, so she shouldn’t be upset about it. That would make it seem like she’s denying how much he loves her, which would make him the victim instead.
6. ‘You’re the only good thing I have’
It’s pretty common for people to try to take responsibility for things that have nothing to do with them in any relationship they’re in. This could look like one partner holding themselves accountable for the other’s emotions, which is exactly what some men want to make women do.
Even if that woman is the only good thing in his life, he shouldn’t frame it that way. This sends the message that she’s all he can count on, which would make it extra devastating if he lost her. Good men would never put that kind of obligation on a woman.
7. ‘Don’t give up on me like everyone else’
Part of what makes this phrase so toxic is the way that it shifts the blame and attention onto someone who doesn’t deserve it. Men who say this are playing with women’s emotions by saying that they’re part of a larger problem that has nothing to do with them.
The man in this situation is basically claiming to feel abandoned by the people who were supposed to support him. Whether or not that’s true isn’t really relevant. All that matters is that a woman would back down and stay in an unhealthy relationship so she doesn’t add to the pattern, almost like she’s trapped.
8. ‘I’m too broken to love’
Imagine a man saying this after a woman says she’s finally done with the relationship for good. It would make him sound defeated and give the impression that she’s just confirming the sad truth he already knew about himself. And it just might make her reconsider her plans.
This is obviously a manipulative guilt trip. He’s using guilt to pressure her into changing her actions. She’ll feel bad because he thinks of himself this way and because she contributed to that feeling, so she’ll stay in a bad situation like he wants her to.
9. ‘You would do it if you really loved me’
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Real love is built on a foundation of acceptance. No one wants to have to be anything less than their authentic self when they’re with the person who’s supposed to love them. That’s exactly what men try to do with this phrase, though.
These men are using love like it’s a weapon. They’re suggesting a woman’s love must be conditional or incomplete if she’s not willing to do something. This is clearly manipulation because someone who was really in love wouldn’t ask their partner to do anything that makes them uncomfortable.
10. ‘After everything I’ve done for you’
People who care about each other show kindness and support because they want to. Men who say this are trying to turn that into some kind of exchange instead. They’re saying that if they’ve done so much for a woman, she should be willing to return the favor.
Love isn’t built on favors, though. This sends the message that she’s indebted to him, almost like some kind of tally is being kept and she needs to even it out. She might feel bad and think she’s not doing enough when he’s really just putting unrealistic expectations on her.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
