"Abuse is the product of a mentality that excuses and condones bullying and exploitation, that promotes superiority and disrespect, and that casts responsibility on to the oppressed. All efforts to end the abuse of women ultimately have to return to this question: How do we change societal values so that womens rights to live free of insults, invasion, disempowerment, and intimidation is respected?"
This quote from Bancroft (Page 386) asks a very important question. How can we change this abusive mentality when the mentality and actions are culturally accepted? You can ask any person on the street if they think that abusive behavior is ok, they will more than likely tell you no. But how many people see their neighbors arguing and do nothing because it is 'none of their business'? How many teenagers talk about their sexual conquests in locker rooms to look cool in front of their friends? How many friends of victims know that she is being abused try once to help a friend and when she refuses the help, stop trying?
I believe that education is the answer. Reading books like Bancroft's, watching videos like Sin By Silence or campaigns like the Allstate Foundation. And then telling our friends, our sisters, our brothers. The more educated people are about the resources that are available to them, the less likely they will stay in an abusive relationship. It is when a victim thinks that they have no place to go or no one to care for them that the abuse continues and eventually affects any children he or she may have.
