How to feel about these hint-hint type questions?

My MiL is awful but obnoxiously covert. I have a hard time knowing if I'm overreacting or reading too much into what she says and then I feel guilty for being indignant.

MiL disapproves of my relationship with DW, but she'd never say it out loud. Mostly, she asks DW these probing, hinting types of questions that are invasive and having insulting implications. I'm a transgender man in transition, and for a good while MiL would probingly ask DW unsolicited questions like "so... are you still feeling okay with this?" and "how are you doing with the transition?" and "so is it still happening?" It feels like she expects DW to not be happy with it even though DW has ALWAYS been fine with it. Similarly way back when we first started dating she asked "so, are you attracted to him?" and then "is the attraction mutual?" which is incredibly not her business and also seems to imply that she wouldn't expect us to find each other attractive?

She probes at all sorts of things like this. "Are you putting money into savings?" is insulting because we're fucking adults who can handle our own finances and it feels like she's implying that she doesn't trust us to be good with money (we're great at it actually, thankyouverymuch). When I was having problems with my horrible, abusive family, she asked DW "do you think that feverhead_coldhands will choose his family over you?" which did not happen and was absolutely not a concern that DW had ever expressed or felt. And DW has dealt endlessly with probing questions about all aspects of her life that imply she can't be trusted to handle things herself. "Do you think you should get tested for X condition?" and "have you considered Y career?" and "would you ever open a shop with Mr. Z?" and "would you like to submit your work to this contest?" etc etc etc.

We've drastically cut contact with MiL thankfully, but I sometimes keep questioning myself if I'm overreacting to some of this stuff (particularly the stuff that pertains to me). It's always framed as a question so she's not outright saying these negative things about us, but I feel the implication is still very real. DW is highly indignant about it and I'm certainly not questioning that, and I hold plenty of contempt for MiL for the way she's treated DW. But I'm not as good about being indignant for my own sake and I hate feeling guilty whenever I get angry about questions MiL has asked about me. Advice?

Posted Jul 31, 2017, 2:35 PM UTC

4017
Loading comments…