Working with Battered Women: a Handbook for ... - Hot Peach Pages

Why do men abuse?One side of the dynamics is that men abuse. Why? Because abuse is:• sanctioned: many traditional laws and religions, until recently,permitted or encouraged men to beat their wives (the reverse has notbeen true);• socialized behaviour: men learn to be violent toward women fromtheir families and their fathers, and other male role models, especiallythose on television, in the movies, and in magazines;• systems failure: men often keep abusing because no one—not theirfamilies, not their friends, not the neighbours, not the police, not themedia, the workplace, the church or the courts—no one effectivelyintervenes;• strategic: batterers inflict the greatest violence and the greatestdamage when women try to leave. The strategy of abuse is to keep thewoman from escaping;• successful: the man gets away with it, and gets his way;• blamed on substance abuse: men often say, "I was drunk and out ofcontrol. I didn't know what I was doing." Abuse of alcohol or drugsdoes not interfere with men's control. Drinkers rarely beat up theirdrinking buddies or the police, but they often beat their wives.5