Why Men Kill Women Is Not A Mystery

[chervilant]

15. Relationship violence occurs far more frequently than the GP is willling to acknowledge.

And, half of all women killed by their intimate partners are killed AFTER they leave the relationship.

Research has shown that women cite four "reasons" they choose to stay with their abuser. Fear and LOVE are cited almost equally, followed by children and money.

Lenore Walker's Cycle of Violence resonates for most survivors, and they can easily describe the "knight in shining armor" with whom they fell in love--who bears absolutely no resemblance to the abuser they must escape.

Almost every Judeo-Christian religion promotes the meme of men "having dominion over" women, and women being subservient to men:

22) Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23) For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24) Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:22-24)

I've done advocacy for survivors of relationship violence for more than 30 years. Many, many survivors described how their abusers use the bible to justify abuse. Many, many survivors observe that jealousy and possessiveness drive their abusers to pummel, choke, punch, threaten, push, kick, bite, belittle, and rape--and these are the survivors who are "lucky" enough to escape being murdered by their abusers.