Every time a women gets in a relationship with an abusive boyfriend/husband she tries to hold on to the "relationship" as long as possible, enduring more abuse and, if she has kids, putting them in danger as well. She is always giving the guy more and more chances to start over. She might even defend him in front of her concerned friends and family. WTF?
Lots of reasons, one of the main being self esteem.
People with high self esteem have strong boundaries and know what makes them feel good and what doesnt. People with boundary issues put up with abuse because sad as it is, it sometimes takes them awhile to work out that things are not working and never will.
In addition, women like this usually have a history of abuse, starting from childhood. This is why they end up wired differently. And their idea of ‘normality’ is often infiltrated with abusive behaviours.
Most abuse in relationships doesnt start out in the physical sense. It is often subtle, and aimed at breaking down a persons self esteem over time.
Some of these women actually believe that no one else would love them as they are so stupid, ugly, incompetent,,,rah rah, the list can go on. This is often how they are portrayed by their abuser. And so they come to believe they are lucky they have someone to put up with them! And this is often why they defend their abuser too. Plus they hope by doing so perhaps they will be seen as loving the abuser and they might get treated a little better for awhile.
Abuse can be subtle enough at the start to not seem like abuse. After a time, it becomes worse and more frequent, but if you are immersed in it, it can be hard to ascertain when it got worse.
Of course, when (or if) it gets physical, there is no fine line there as to it being abuse. That is the day you should move out and never look back, but for many women, they lack the courage to do it because they are limited in all areas, self esteem, self image, and possibly have little resources like income and even family and friends to back them up.
After a time, some of these women work it out and move on to better healthier relationships. Takes a lot of soul searching though.
And kids can become hurt, which is the saddest thing of all.
It can produce repeat performances in them as adults, but sometimes they develop good boundaries because they have seen their mother abused.
Sadly, many times these women dont get it. And it becomes worse as they age. It has become ingrained behaviour and they know no different. There is also an interesting finding that adrenalin responses in women in bad relationships is huge. They virtually live for the good times, the reconciliations and in a normal relationship, these ‘highs" are absent.
Why? Because normal relationships are built on mutual love and respect and we feel good in them pretty much all the time, and when trouble happens each of the partners is there for each other.
This could seem rather foreign and strange to a woman with a past full of abuse. It takes time to learn how good relationships work. For these women, they have no idea.
In an ideal world, no woman would put up with crap. But what about the men who abuse them?
Abused women are more likely to receive criticism than the men who do it to them.
Food for thought.