Avenger wrote:
> "MCP"  wrote in message
> news:dadHd.165493$48.70960{at}fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> > http://www.menweb.org/throop/battery/daveclass.html
> >
> > Instead of doing the regular reports on our readings this week, I
have
> > decided to do a brief report on husband battering. I hope this is
okay. If
> > not, please let me know, and I'll stick to the readings in the
future.

[...]

>  One researcher noted that wives were the perpetrators in 73%
> > of the depictions of domestic violence in newspaper comics (Saenger
1963).
> >
> > Battered husbands have historically been either ignored or
subjected to
> > ridicule and abuse. In 18th-century France, a battered husband "was
made
> > to wear an outlandish outfit and ride backwards around the village
on a
> > donkey" (Steinmetz & Lucca 1988).
>
> Because he wasn't man enough to keep a violent woman in line.

The problem is that a man may not defend himself because he's not
legally allowed to defend himself.  In theory, the law may allow for
self-defense, but in practice, no way.  If he defends himself, he'll
quickly put her down, and she'll call the cops, because she's trying to
hurt him, and if she can't do it, she'll find someone who can.  The
cops will arrive to find her busted up and him in good shape, and no
matter how vehemently he claims it was self-defense, he'll go down for
"domestic violence."  It's even worse if there are kids around, because
if he gets whisked away and thrown in jail, there's no one there to
defend the kids.

Add to that the leverage she gains in a divorce if she gets wounded
while assaulting her husband.  Her broken face becomes a testament to
what a mean, vile man her husband is, so he doesn't even get
visitation, and he has no way of knowing whether his ex or her parade
of boyfriends are hurting his kids.

An abusive wife has her man by the short hairs.  There's almost nothing
he can do, short of bumping her off.
[...]


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