It’s just as easy to love a rich man”(Sherven 64).The belief that “men are more likely to act out their anger in a physically violent way” is a false statement. More and more women during the last thirty years are just as capable of acting out physically. Most men who have been taught, never to hit a women are rendered powerless because they must restrain themselves. Our culture teaches boys and young men that to be a “real man” they have to be able to take it, and especially take it from women. Multiple studies say that women act out their anger in a physically violent way frequently, especially with family members.Another myth would have us believe that the courts treat abusive men more leniently. Everyone has at least one horror story on both sides of this issue. Mostoften those cases have a National Enquirer flavor and make all the news broadcast. The fact is that many women get off just as frequently. One reason is that, as a culture, we have a deep commitment to the belief that women are helpless and innocent. Police admit they are less likely to believe that women can be violent and almost always look to the man, regardless of the actual circumstances.As long as women refuse to take responsibility for their participation, they will remain desempowered and completely dependent upon men to change. Domestic Violence should not be tolerated; it must be faced and prevented. We must look clearly and fearlessly at the dance women and men create that allows for and sustains that violence. Male bashing and protection of women’s innocence only perpetuate the problem.The women’s movement claims that its goal is to have equal rights for women. If that is so, then women must share responsibility for their behavior and their contribution to Domestic Violence, otherwise we remain in a distortion that overshadows the truth. Only the truth will show us the way out of the epidemic of v...
