That type of thing doesn't happen around here.
She must like it if she stays.
Some women like to stir up trouble.
Domestic violence is a subject engulfed with myths.
The reality is often quite different.
- Myth :
- There are very few battered women in this country.
- Reality :
- A woman is battered every 9 seconds in the U.S., and approximately 1,400 women are murdered by their spouses each year.
- Myth :
- Domestic abuse only occurs in poor or minority families.
- Reality :
- Domestic violence crosses all racial, income, and ethnic lines. The police in Norwalk, Connecticut, have the same number of wife abuse calls as the police in Harlem, New York, a city of comparable size.
- Myth :
- Domestic abuse is just a slap, push, or punch - nothing serious.
- Reality :
- 22% to 35% of women who visit emergency rooms are there for injuries related to abuse from a partner.
- Myth :
- Men are battered just as much as women.
- Reality :
- 95% of all assaults on spouses or ex-spouses are committed by men. Of 9,726 people calling for help in Louisiana in a year's time, 14 were men (.1%).
- Myth :
- Leaving the relationship will end the violence.
- Reality :
- A woman has a 75% greater chance of being murdered if she leaves.
