Battered women
Sir, — Do men batter women because they are psychologically “unsound” or because they lose self-control under the influence of alcohol or because it is tacitly condoned by society? While refuge workers certainly do not minimise the crazy, neurotic behaviour of battering men, we know from six years experience in providing shelter, that alcohol and social
conditioning play a major part in this violence. Very few of the men who batter the women who come to us display unacceptable behaviour before their friends or in the work place. Many are "perfect” mates to their women until they drink. It appears to be the memory of happy, sober behaviour that often entices a woman back into a relationship in spite of the reality of the drunken violence that brought her to us in the first place. It is also social conditioning and financial dependence which serves to keep women in an impossible relationship.—Yours, etc., D. J. DAVIES, Christchurch Women’s Refuge (Inc.), September 19, 1980.
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Press, 23 September 1980, Page 16
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164Battered women Press, 23 September 1980, Page 16
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