More Myths

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MYTHS

The battered woman syndrome affects only a small percentage of the population.
Battered women are masochistic.
Battered women are crazy.
Middle class women do not get battered as frequently or as violently as do poorer women.
Minority group women are battered more frequently than Anglos.
Lesbians do not abuse their partners.
Religious beliefs will prevent battering.
Battered women are uneducated and have few job skills.
Batterers are violent in all their relationships.
Batterers are unsuccessful and lack resources to cope with the world.
Drinking causes battering behavior.
Batterers are psychopathic personalities.
Police can protect the battered woman.
The batterer is not a loving partner.
A wife batterer also beats his children.
Once a battered woman, always a battered woman.
Once a batterer, always a batterer.
Long-standing battering relationships can change for the better.
Battered women deserve to be beaten.
Women abused in prostitution are not really battered women.
Battered women can always leave home.
Batterers will cease their violence "when we get married."
Children need their father even if he is violent, or "I,m only staying for the sake of the children."

Adapted from The Battered Woman, by Lenore Walker, Chapter 1.