Why do Women Remain in Abusive Relationships?

Have you ever wondered why some women choose to remain in an abusive relationship with their so called loved one? A domestic violence victim is someone who may endure being physically battered, called names, isolated from the world, and being financially manipulated. These are just some of the many forms of abuse that women who stay in abusive relationships deal with on a daily basis. Other than being physically harmed, women who are victim to domestic violence can also experience a great amount of psychological abuse. Psychological abuse is defined as.. ( ).

Fear is one of the main reasons women stay in abusive relationships. Women may fear for their lives if their abuser gets physically abusive with them. Women my also fear what their lives will be like after they leave the relationship and believe that it could even turn out worse than what they are currently involved in. This is because many women may financially depend on their abuser and worry about not being able to support themselves on their own. Fear of going against ones' religion by choosing to violate the terms of a marriage can be another reason in some relationships. Women with children may fear her child not growing up without a dad even though the child may be better off without the abusive dad.

Victim blaming could be another reason for women choosing to stay with her abuser. The victim could be being blamed by her abuser that she is the reason for everything that is going wrong in their relationship. This gives the abuser a sense of justification for his wrongful actions. This puts extraordinary amounts of pressure and guilt on the victim. Blaming the victim could further damage her self esteem and bring into question her own self- worth. She may feel like no matter what she does is not good enough and always come up short. The victim a lot of the time places the blame solely on them selves. This is because the victim's self esteem becomes so worn down by the abuser that she starts to actually believe that she is the reason for her abusive relationship.

One main reason women remain in abusive relationships is because of love itself. The abused woman may feel she can ultimately fix her abuser. She may have been isolated from her friends and family in which her abuser was her world. The victim may tend to focus on the good aspects of the relationship if there are any. Many victims have this misconstrued perception of their abuser and usually its' denial. The victim may give herself a reason to remain in the relationship and eventually begin to believe in this reason to the point that she is in denial of all the other different types and aspects of abuse.

There is one specific domestic violence case that sticks out in my mind about a woman who chose to stand by her man after being a big news topic of ESPN Sportscenter and the NFL. Former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice's career ended short because of one bad decision. This one bad decision reflected what must have been going on behind closed doors at home. In 2012, Ray Rice knocked his wife Janay Rice out cold on an elevator in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After being kicked off the team, Ray Rice and Janay made a public address to the media in what seemed to be a very apologetic Janay and Ray Rice. The only problem was, why was Janay the one who was being apologetic? Ray Rice also made several apologies to his family, his fans, the kids, and coaches. It seemed that he had reluctantly forgot to apologize publicly to the only person that really should have mattered. He did not apologize to his wife while speaking to the media. If that does not speak wonders and for itself then I do not know what does.

In a similar situation, Chiefs ex running back Kareem Hunt was in the news for a video that had surfaced of him attacking an unknown woman and going as far as to kick her while she had already been shoved down to the ground by Hunt as friends tried to hold him back and dissolve the abuse that was taking place. This incident stirred up repressed emotions for Janay Rice as she related to the victim that Hunt had attacked. I do not believe Janay's claims that this was the only physical abuse that she endured from Ray Rice in her current relationship(Baltimore Sun Staff). Ray Rice claims people do not realize the friendship he had with Janay that dated back to his teenage years.

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