Even though abuse of women is not acceptable now, it has happened throughout history. In ancient times, men were allowed to subjugate, batter and even kill their wives if infidelity was suspected (Hutchings 65). The structure of society led men to continue to exercise authority, not only over their wives but also over their children under the fear of punishment. Domestic violence continues to be the modeling of excessive discipline in some households where the husband always speaks the first and theist word. While a number of causes for wife abuse have been suggested, husband primarily abuse their wives because they grew up in a violent family, have low self-esteem, and are influenced by society.
Men who grew up in a violent family tend to be more abusive than those who did not are. "A man who batters is a child who was battered that nobody helped" (Martin 23). Most of these husband suffer irreparable emotional and physical damage because their parents" "love" for them was mixed with violence. Their aggressive behavior becomes apparent in their marriages throughout generations. Most of their battered mothers took out their frustrations by beating their children as if they would have been guilty of their fathers" abuse toward these women. "In J.J. Gayfor's survey of one hundred women in England, 37 percent of the women admitted taking their futrations out on their children and 54 percent claimed their husbands committed acts of violence against the children" (Martin 22). Another survey estimates that 200,000 to 250,00 children need protective assistance in the United States, and 30,000 to 37,500 children may be extremely injured by their parents annually (Martin 22). This is a deflection of why men abuse their wives. Their backgrounds are a cycle of violence, which creates "monstrous" husband because they were trained dunning their childhood to act violently.
If having been hit by their parents is one of the causes of being violent, then these husbands may also have suffered psychological damage when they saw their fathers batter their mothers.
