104 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: ELI5: What is 'gaslighting' and some examples?
It comes from the movie Gaslight[1]. Basically, it's a form of manipulation. In the movie, the woman's husband is trying to drive her crazy, so he would do stuff like take pictures off the wall and then tell his wife it was her who took the pictures down, and he would turn on lights in the attic and then he would say they weren't on, that it was a figment of her imagination.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslight_(1944_film)
So when people use the term now, they are talking about people manipulating them and lying to them. Like, let's say a guy date rapes a girl... and she confronts him about it, he might tell her that she's all wrong, that she was the aggressor... maybe *he* would even say that he felt threatened by *her*. That would be an example of gaslighting. Or let's say a girl is cheating on her boyfriend and he confronts her about it, she might claim that no, he's cheating on her, and then she'll list a number of things she's claims is proof. And then she might tell all her friends that her boyfriend is crazy and abusive.
Comment by fishbiscuit13 at 13/12/2018 at 06:25 UTC
54 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Small correction, in the movie and the play it's based on, the husband isn't specifically trying to drive his wife crazy; it's a side effect of the lies he's telling to cover up his attempt to rob her of her aunt's fortune.