Why Respect Feels Like Safety In Relationships

What's the difference between feeling respected and feeling safe in a relationship? The truth is for me there's no difference. Those terms are synonymous. And the more you understand that, the more you will understand what both of those terms mean. A lot of people misuse the term respect. They really mean admiration. Respect means that you back off and you give space and you don't violate the other person's boundaries. Respect is that when someone says, "Please don't go there," your response is not to push to see if you can go there. Your response is to back off and not go there. What do you think safety is in a relationship? Safety is when I know that if I tell you I'm not comfortable with something, you're not going to test that and try to make me be comfortable with it. I want to add something. Yes, this is gender specific and you can argue with me all you want, but it's an indisputable reality. Women especially need to feel that their boundaries are respected, that they are safe from encroachment, from violation. Because if they don't, then they cannot do the most feminine thing, which is receive. And the very definition of femininity is the ability to take in masculine energy, develop it, and then give back something incomparably greater than what you received.