For a while now I have been well aware that my brother's tendency to be aggressively opinionated about things has caused me to be very inhibited and probably limited the development of my persona. I know that he doesn't have this effect on everyone he deals with, it could be partly because of my history of being bullied around by him during my teen years. But I often find myself feeling shamed by him for for having opinions, tastes or habits that he expresses disapproval of. He always seems to have a long, intellectualized explanation as to why his opinion is not just his opinion, but is just fact. For example, when he doesn't like a show or a movie, it's not just that he doesn't like the show or movie, it's that the show or movie is bad (bad writing, bad character development, cliche, sexist, aimed at middle school kids, etc.). I don't know if I am being oversensitive, but to me it just seems like a personal attack when he goes on these rants. He's essentially saying "only an idiot would like this", well then what does that make me? I know this seems silly, but whenever I come across a new interest (hobby, show, game, etc.) I find myself automatically pondering what he would say about it, and this seems to influence how comfortable I feel picking up these new interests. It is almost like he has become a superego voice in the back of my head.

Has anyone else dealt with someone like this who has had this kind of effect on you? I find myself not wanting to confront him because I feel like he is not intentionally trying to have this effect, but that he does because of our past history and my being naturally sensitive.