I have been reading these posts with my heart breaking for these posters. I am female, and was in a marital situation for years that was frightening, demeaning and demoralizing. My husband had a hair-trigger temper, and would relentlessly yell and put down the people in his family.
My soon-to-be-ex directed his physical abuse towards the kids – he said at one point that he knew it hurt me more that way – and he also knew he was safer that way, with a few relatively minor exceptions. I was so beaten down mentally that I felt that I had to execute the perfect getaway, and by delaying until I could pull it off, I kept my children and myself in daily hell for years, wasted years. We lived in fear for increasingly longer stretches, and then it would get better, and for a long time I thought that the bad was the exception, the good was normal, until it became obvious that the reverse was true and I was denying it.
This is why I am moved to post this. I see the same rationalizations posted here that I told myself. Even thought this is addressing males who were battered, I'm posting this because my heart goes out to people (regardless of gender) who are victims of domestic violence, and I would like to say to you what I wish someone had said to me, what it took me years to figure out: Get out!
It's impossible to think through this while you're living it. If it means that you have to walk out the door, down to the corner, and stick your thumb out, and get out. There is no way to find your strength and to find yourself again while you are vulnerable.
If I had left when it first started to get bad, I would have given a clear message: this is unacceptable, and if you want there to be an “us,” you have to change. As long as I stayed, I was inadvertently condoning the behavior, giving him the green light.
If I had left when the kids were little, and he was younger and more motivated, we might have had a chance of working things out, because the line would have been drawn in the sand: either change, or you lose us. Period.
I let my fear and my hope rule my decisions, and it should have been rationality ruling instead. What I realize in retrospect I should have done was to get out, and to require that we go through family counseling for at least six months, and that he go through batterers counseling. And let him know he's got one chance after that – one – to get it right. Steps over the line, and it's over. And then find the strength within myself to follow through.
Someone above posted: "Where is the love?" Answer: not there. That's not what love looks like. That is not what love looks like.
He or she also asked, "How bad is it? Really?" Answer: really, really bad.
Secondary victimization is what happens when the people you turn to for help criticize and question you; they can hurt as much as the primary abuse. When you finally get the courage up to ask for help, and have the system turn against you, it's devastating. Use the experiences of others who have been in the same position (read the posts above) and prepare yourself for the possibility that this can happen. Be strong, even though you don't feel strong at all.
The abuse is real. You're not exaggerating the situation. You are not making a mountain out of a molehill; you're attempting to make a molehill out of a mountain.
The reality described above is that the answer to the question, "Where is the help for men?" may be, in reality, nowhere. There might not be one person on this planet who will help you. But you still are worthy of helping yourself. Even if no one believes you, ever, believe yourself.
I had a friend years ago who gave me the same advice posted above: keep a log. I didn't, because to write this down meant that I had to admit that it was really happening. My soon-to-be-ex denies it still, and tries to do the crazy-in-the-head manipulation stuff that he did when we were together. It's hard, hard, hard to not get sucked into conversations like that, but it helps me remember why I had to leave.
You can do this. Read the posts of the people who have family members that they are watching in this situation. They would help in a heartbeat if the victim would accept it. Put aside false pride, and take the help if you have it available.
I'm really sorry to hear that there are people who work at women's shelters who are so lethally critical. Try calling the local homeless shelter. I bet that there are men who go there for just that reason if there are no other options.
When it comes down to it, this is not a gender issue as much as it is a victim issue. It's just that it's complicated by the horrific reality of not being believed. Would it help you to know that some women also have to deal with this? My husband is a faithful member of his church, and has a lot of friends who sympathize greatly with the poor man whose wife (the b-word) left him and took the kids. It hurts, but you harden yourself to that crap. I figure the God-fearing ones will have to answer for that some day. That's between them and their conscience. The people who love you will stick with you, and the rest do not matter.
I am so sorry that you are going through this, but it's real, and in the end, no one can save you but yourself. Every day spent in fear and pain and sorrow is a day wasted.
And to the person who is in love with someone who still says, "Go ahead, hit me..." after getting out of a spousal abuse situation, run, do not walk, to counseling. Your beloved still needs help, and more than just the kind that you can give. Give your relationship a chance by talking to a counselor yourself and getting this guy into victim's counseling. Those are some powerful dynamics, and the pain just keeps on keeping on unless it stops. He is still in a relationship with his ex, because she still controls him.
To everyone here who has posted your stories, I am so sorry that you are living like this, or have lived with it. You deserve better. Don't stay with someone because of money; there isn't enough money in the world to make it worth that. It's a lot harder when kids are involved, but these manipulators know how to control you, and will use whatever it takes to do that.
This is the problem that you're too close to see: you still want to play fair. You want to speak truth and be heard. You think that if you can explain clearly enough, and talk things through, you will finally convince the other person of your position. It won't work because this isn't about truth, honesty or rightness in this other person's eyes; it's about power and control and winning. If you want to stay in a relationship with this person, then you have to be willing to fight on that level, and the only leverage you have is to vote with your feet. You have the power over something she (or he) wants, and that is continuing to be in a relationship with you. Get strong, get out (or get out and get strong) and then draw the line: you do this or it is over forever. Or just get out.
There is no other better day. Take this from one who wasted years trying to fix things. If this is not your problem, you can't fix it! All you can do is let her (or him) know that you won't tolerate it. And hats off to the posters above who got out. Let them be your mentors. There is life beyond hell. But you've got to be the one to open the door and walk out.