Do men knowingly neg you?

I've realised last year when I was dating my now ex-bf that throughout the period he was courting me, he kept negging me to prove myself to him. All I wanna know is do men knowingly do this? I was in a relationship with him for around 6 months and he went from a total "loverboy" to making me realise that was all just an act to get me fall for him.