Blaine Anderson - Sexually abused?

WARNING: This post addresses the topic of sexual abuse and may be triggering

I'll be the first to say that I am not well versed in psychology or sexual abuse and I can't pretend I hold in depth or professional insight required to study a potential victim, but as a fan of Glee character Blaine Anderson I couldn't pass this up. Fans have continually speculated that there is a darker side to Blaine's history and looking closely, that speculation isn't without merit. This is an analyse based on a list of abuse warning signs, those in yellow are more obviously present in Blaine's character and those in peach are questionable.

Possible Behavioral Signs of Sexual Abuse

• Sexually-precocious or attempts to mask seductive behavior

Blaine has been developed as a sexually precocious character throughout his entire run on the show; experimental with Rachel and briefly hitting on Finn, continually singing songs that reference sex or contain innuendos (Teenage Dream, When I Get You Alone), and his advancements towards Kurt. Arguably he masks this sexually precocious behaviour in song and by not directly mentioning the behaviour even in conversations with his boyfriend ("To kiss you whenever and wherever you want" "I miss messing around with you" "What am I supposed to do? Hold my breath?").  He is also very vague about his own sexual experiments with Burt saying that he turned to the internet, yet he was very specific when he mentions a potentially abusive sexual scenario afterwards "One day he'll be at a party and he'll meet some guy and start fooling around..." There is a possible that there was some meaning behind these words. 

• Hides secondary sexual characteristics
• Attempts to be unattractive

This is obviously up for debate as Darren and Blaine are both attractive men and everyone has different stylistic tastes in clothing, but I've said before that Blaine's choice of clothing and his hair gell are symbolic or a shield. He continued to wear bowties and dress a particular way despite being repeatedly told by others (including his own brother) that the look was not aesthetically pleasing to the masses, meaning that he is either deliberately choosing to dress in a way that he knows people find unattractive or he is compulsively attached/addicted to that look. As clothing choice is on a small part of whether you appear attractive and he happily removed his bowtie when Sam suggested it in 'Makeover' this may be less likely.

• Abnormal sexual knowledge

(discussed under the first point)

• Radical mood swings 

Blaine's demeanour is quick to change, and his actions can be contradicting (an example being that he cheated despite him voicing his strong distaste for cheating earlier on) and he can go from a calm to an angered exterior exterior or from a happy to depressive exterior very quickly. 

• Sense of danger where he/she lives
• Change in eating habits (bulimia, anorexia, or compulsive eating)
• Inappropriately seductive

'When I Get You Alone' - enough said.

• Apparent boredom w/age peers and age appropriate activities
• Nightmares, insomnia, sleepwalking and other sleep disturbances
• Radical change in school performance for better or worse
• Fearful about certain people
• Over achievement 

Blaine is clearly an over achiever, as he was able to keep up with what must have been a demanding private school schedule. Then in the Season 3 episode 'Makeover' he is shown, as the rightful 'New Rachel' to be signing up for close to every single available club and also runs for class president. 

• Depression, crying episodes, etc.
• Substance abuse/addiction

While only seen drinking on two occasions throughout the show it is heavily implied that Blaine abuses alcohol, as he was drink both times and the lyrics to several songs he has sung on the show feature alcohol. He also compulsively sports bowties and hair gel and appears to have if not an addiction than a highly active sex drive - his sexually knowledge and advances seeming to be unusally active. 

• Expression of "damaged goods" syndrome
• Angry, hostile or aggressive behavior

Blaine was a member of Dalton's fight club, is quick to anger (as seen in several interactions with Sebastian, Kurt and Finn and one interaction with Sam), and can be forceful when drunk. 

• Fear of adult or adolescent
• Fear of being photographed
• Anxiety reaction to authority figures
• Fear of undressing or refusal to undress in gym class 
• Pseudo-mature/overly-compliant or accommodating

Blaine is incredibly compliant and accommodating to the point where it is detrimental to his own happiness. It is seen in his continual accommodation of Kurt's needs (changing schools for him, not originally auditioning for Tony for him etc) and his initial accommodation of Finn and Rory. He also shows Pseudo-maturity in his interactions with others; appearing as a mentor to Kurt despite being established as a year younger (as of Season 3 anyway... but that's another story) and struggling with some of the same issues as Kurt himself. He also has shown incredibly emotional maturity in regards to some respects of his relationship and in his interactions with Burt, his peers and his authority figures. Of course this could all come from his own independent wisdom, intellect and maturity but he has shown a lot of evidence of this.

• Regressive, babyish behavior
• Intense efforts to gain attention/affection from adults

While not specific to adult figures in his life, Blaine is known for craving/seeking affection, even if he is not conscious of, or having a selfish reason for, doing so. Despite being an incredibly accommodating person and a team player he became the lead soloist of the Warblers, and by accommodating Kurt, his friends, and family he is also seeking affecting from those around him - by gaining their approval. 

• Spending inordinate amounts of time in game rooms, arcades. etc

There is only small evidence of this in the montage of Blaine singing up for clubs at the beginning of 'Makeover'. The fact that he signed up for clubs dedicated to Dungeons and Dragons and Superhero sidekicks show that he must spend a significant amount of time participating in fandom and gaming related activities. 

• Recruiting other children to become involved with an adult
• Suicidal thinking, gestures, and attempts 
• Hints regarding sexual behavior
• Fear of nurturing/withdrawal/impaired ability to trust

Blaine's impaired ability to trust is shown most clearly in his interactions with Kurt and his brother. When Cooper arrives Blaine doesn't appear to be surprised when he is dismissed by his brother, not trusting his brother due to his experience and perhaps darker influences. He is withdrawn from his brother, as it is established at the beginning of 'Big  Brother' that they'd hadn't had contact with each other for a while and he hadn't mentioned Cooper to Kurt. His distrust of Kurt is more clear, shown most clearly in 'Dance With Somebody'. When Kurt starts texting Chandler, Blaine apparently suspects something is going on judging by his looks of sad resignation. For Blaine to suspect anything there has to be some level of mistrust for Blaine to consider the possibility that Kurt is cheating, since Kurt could've been texting anybody at the time. He shows even greater mistrust and paranoia when he chooses to read Kurt's texts. 

• Self-mutalative behavior 
• Find reasons to not go home (helping teachers, etc.)

There are several instances where Blaine may have been doing this. Prior to the inclusion of NYADA and New York as outside filming locations, and assuming that Dalton was a boarding school, Blaine as a character was shown away from home more than any other character. Throughout Season 2 we see him only at school and public places; such as the Lima Bean, Breadsticks, Kurt's home and McKinley. Only in Season 3 and 4 have we seen him home at all, with the noticeable absence of his parents. There is also a moment in 'I Am Unicorn' where he asks Mr.Shue if he could attend booty-camp, saying that he would like to catch up with the others, which could easily have been a guise. 

• Neurological and verbal expressive delays

It has been brought up by screencaps and fan speculation that Blaine apparently has trouble clapping - this could easily  be a goof-up on Darren's part or fans just looking too far into it, but it could also be a neurological deficit that has affected his hand eye co-ordination. Any damage done to his addiction center due to abuse could also explain his reliance and apparently abuse of alcohol, as well as his compulsive behaviour when it comes to clothing and singing. It would also explain his introvert personality, as his emotions are bottled up due to the delays in his verbal expression. 

• Killing/torturing domestic animals 
• Self-hatred
• Memory loss
• Runaway
• Fear of the dark
• Find reasons to not be with someone they used to spend time with (or any change of behavior toward a friend or family member)

Not explored on the show but suggested by his lack of contact with his friends in the Warblers. As of 'Michael' and the whole Sebastian situation it is understandable that his relationship with the Warblers is now strained but prior to Michael his on-screen contact with the Warblers was solely to invite them to West Side Story. 

• Unable to concentrate, daydreaming, 'spacing out', 'in a world of their own'
• Withdrawn, isolated, or excessively worried

• Excessive or early masterbation

Suggested, albeit only briefly and in passing, during 'The First Time' with the line "That's why they invented masterbation"

• Becomes a perpetrator, targeting a child, sibling, or friend

Arguably this very nearly occurred during 'The First Time' when Blaine ruins his night out with Kurt at Scandals by becoming overly forceful in the car. 

Do you think Blaine has been sexually abused or some other trauma? Or do you think he's perfectly healthy? Let me know in the comments. 

Thank you to http://www.sandf.org/articles/Signs.asp for the initial list of warning signs and Hypable.com's Natalie Fisher and Glee Chat podcast for the inspiration