Battery: Is It Safer To Leave or Stay?.

             Over twenty percent of all battered women kill their partners. Making the decision to leave any abusive relationship is a process where many factors have to be considered. Domestic abuse affects people of all cultures, religions, ages, sexual orientations, educational background, and income levels. Victims are frequently blamed for being victims.

             Domestic violence continues because of isolation, silence, and the failure to seek help. In a lot of situations, the victim feels like they are crazy or that they are the only one that this has happened to. Therefore, they except the abuse as a way of life. Some people blame the victim because they don't attempt to try to make changes like leaving or getting help. Seventy three percent of women who are injured by their partner, are injured after separation.

             CASA is an organization designed to work with all individuals in need of domestic violence services, regardless of reason. CASA has developed an Internet web page to help people understand more about domestic violence. They have put together thirteen condensed signs of abuse. (1) You live in fear of making your partner mad and change your ways to avoid it. (2) Your intimate partner seems like two different people. Children who grow up in abusive families learn that violence is a normal way of life. So, of course, the abuser thinks that what they are doing is not wrong. (3) Your intimate partner blames you for failures in the relationship. (4) You avoid your family and friends to prevent your partner's anger and jealousy. (5) Your intimate partner controls where you go, what you do, and who you talk to. (6) Your intimate partner uses the hearing world to further isolate you from assistance or help. The abuser strongly insists to be in charge in the relationship. Tradition and culture are used to justify this rigid gender role playing. (7) Your intimate partner forces you to have sex or perform sexual acts against your will, degrades or hurts you during sex.