I (18F) am about to leave my home town to study a dual degree to study law, political science and international relations (majoring in human rights). As I prepare to leave home, I can’t help but notice my younger brother’s odd behaviour. First thing I would observe is a lack of respect for women, namely me as his sister, and our mother who has done her absolute best to raise us as a single parent.

For example, he will walk past me at home without acknowledging me. He tells me to shut up in public, considering me a disgrace and an embarrassment. If I even open my mouth he becomes greatly irritated; just months prior we would be able to have conversations. Now he dictates my every interaction. As much as I hate to admit it, he scares me. As of late he would look up more to our father, as would be concerning provided his history of DV (coercive control) with past female partners, including our mother.

For those who have not yet watched the “pewdiepipeline” documentary on YouTube, I highly recommend it, and it would in turn provide context to this situation. My brother has been describing his sudden shift to be a misunderstanding of his humour on my behalf, though I see no humour in brandishing hate symbols in a Discord bio for everybody to see. The context of humour is deliberate; if you take offence or call it out you are “overly sensitive”, “woke” or “brainwashed”. He would additionally catch me watching this documentary, calling it (r-worded, as I wish not to say the word here, or anywhere) as he would remark, “people are too sensitive, it is the internet.” Personally, I believe we should all be sensitive to hate as a means of stopping it.

I do not want to make this too long, and maybe I am wrong, but please tell me if my concerns are valid. I have tried to get him to be more sensitive to other people, but it always backfires. I just need someone to talk to really, and if you guys have anything to talk about or get off your chest I am here <3.