Here is your ATS profile.....
• The victim fears the batterer, believing the batterer to be almost "godlike." Often threats are made against the victim, for example, the batterer will kill the victim if the beatings are reported to anyone. Police, in the victim’s eyes, offer no long-term protection from the batterer.
• The victim may be economically dependent on the batterer and, not having a marketable job skill, the victim has no realistic alternative to the batterer’s financial support.
• Often the batterer is the victim’s only psychological support system, having systematically destroyed the victim’s other friendships.
• Learned helplessness. The victim has been taught and believes to be powerless, and therefore views the situation from that perspective.
• Sometimes the batterer is otherwise well respected or mild mannered, so the victim’s concerns are not taken seriously. Often the batterer is violent only with the victim and frequently concludes there is something wrong with the victim.
• The victim may rationalize the beatings, believing that the victim must have "deserved" the "punishment" or that the batterer was just "too drunk" to know what the batterer was doing (beliefs the batterer propagates).
• The victim may have no idea that services are available and may feel trapped.
• The battering takes place during a relatively short period of time. Afterwards the batterer may be quite gentle, apologetic, loving, and may promise never to beat the victim again.
• The victim may be convinced that this beating will be the last.
• Often a battered person, motivated by pity and compassion, is convinced that the victim alone can help the batterer with the "problem" (whether it is drinking, "pressure from the outside world", "victim’s mistakes", etc).
Take a guess on WHO the batterer is?
And WHO the battered victim may be?
IS it too harsh? Yes it is.
Is it surreal? You bet it is.
Just wondering HOW MUCH MORE you guys can take.
Just wondering.