Am I wrong for feeling uncomfortable with our home situation?
Assalamu alaikum. So I was chatting with my stepdad the other day and I’m not really sure how we ended up on this topic, but he started by saying something like “if it seems I’m not interacting with you guys much it’s because your mother and I might be arguing.” That didn’t surprise me - I’ve already gotten used to the idea that his relationship with me and my brother depends a lot on how he and my mom are doing. Honestly, I don’t like him much as a person. To me he seems sexist, very driven by his desires, lazy, and he gets on my nerves. Still, compared to my biological father he’s probably better for my mom. My mom is his second wife; they started talking years ago and, if I remember right, during COVID they were communicating a lot. I’d be in the room while Mom would talk on the phone, and some of those conversations were pretty explicit. His first wife found out and understandably didn’t want it, but it seems she eventually agreed. My family moved to his city and we all moved into one home. I thought he’d divide time evenly between both families, but he mostly moved in here and only visits his children on Jummah. Anyway, our conversation turned to second wives and he asked if I’d be okay if my future husband took another wife. I said it would depend on the situation but most likely I wouldn’t be okay and would choose to leave. He argued that it would be impermissible for a woman to leave just for that reason and claimed women couldn’t manage on their own - that they’d be unable to control their sexual needs and would fall into haram. That was his only point. I disagreed and said it’s a woman’s choice; clearly my mom chose to stay. He also said he’d love a Filipino wife because “they’re nice people” though many aren’t Muslim, which felt odd and inappropriate for him to say to someone he calls his daughter. He kept talking about how marriage is compulsory, how sinful it would be to leave a husband who takes another wife, and kept making general comments about women. I hate the vibe at home right now. My brother doesn’t like it either - we’ve both walked in on them before - and there’s this constant power dynamic between my mom and him. Am I justified in feeling upset and uncomfortable about all this? JazakAllah khair for any thoughts.