Surviving Domestic Violence: Voices of Women Who Broke Free - Softcover

Weiss, Elaine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1888106964 ISBN 13: 9781888106961

Publisher: Agreka Tm Llc, 2000

Synopsis

This is not a reference text about domestic violence. It is not an instructional manual on how to escape from a batterer. Plenty of these exist. It is a travel guide to a country no one visits willingly, the collective tales of past travelers making the landscape less threatening, less alien. I hope the many voices in this book will convince you that these stories belong to all of us. Domestic abuse doesn't just happen "out there" somewhere--it happens in our town, in our neighborhood, on our street. It happens to people we see at the supermarket, the movie theater, the ballet, the bowling alley, and the PTA board meeting. It happens to our friends, our coworkers, and our family members. Women who have experienced domestic abuse look just like everyone else. They look just like me. Abused women look just like Judy North, a first-grade teacher from Nebraska who remained with her abusive husband for ten years, until the night she finally stood up to him...and woke up in the emergency room. Abused women look just like Whitney Benson, a Mormon college student from southern Utah. She worries about the scars on her face from her boyfriend's class ring; I worry about the scars on her soul from his carefully crafted campaign of criticism, intimidation, and punishing rape. And abused women look just like Andrea Hartley, a pediatrician in her late forties who considers herself extremely fortunate. Although the man she married when she was thirty proved to be extremely violent, the emotional support of her family, friends, and medical colleagues enabled her to leave him only four months later. They come from all walks of life. Some are well educated; others barely finished high school. Some come from wealthy families; others come from poor ones. Some witnessed terrifying family violence as children; others never heard an angry word. Some were raised by warm, supportive families; others by cold, distant families. Some married young; others married late. They worship in churches, in synagogues, or not at all. They come from big cities, small towns, farming communities, and suburbs. What these women have in common is that each was in an intimate relationship with a man who abused her. Some were abused physically. Some were abused sexually. All were abused psychologically...the most devastating type of abuse, leaving the deepest wounds. This is not a book about guns, knives, emergency rooms, or police reports. Many stories focus instead on the subtle campaign of abuse, wearying and corrosive, which trapped their teller in a web of daily threat. Yet despite the humiliation, fear, and isolation, each woman managed to escape from her abuser. Theirs are stories, not of frailty, but of clarity, resourcefulness, and strength.

About this title

From the Publisher:

It is with pride that Volcano Press is publishing Elaine Weiss. Her books demonstrate the great advances in the struggle against family violence that have taken place since we first published BATTERED WIVES in the early 1970s.

In those early days, a handful of feminists, scattered across the United States, were creating shelters for battered women--without funding, without community understanding, against great odds. It was and still is a historic movement.

Today, we have the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which established an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, there are many state domestic violence coalitions and a myriad of local and national programs to support battered women.

And, as author Elaine Weiss says, "Most abused women are not passive victims. They show enormous strength, both while they are within the relationship, and as they work to extricate themselves. One proof of this strength is the huge number who ultimately manage to break free and go on with their lives. They do not wait to be rescued. They rescue themselves. They are resourceful. They fight back. They take care of themselves, and often of their children."

We thank Elaine for giving voices to these women.

Ruth Gottstein, Publisher
Adam Gottstein, Associate Publisher
Volcano Press

From the Author:

This is not a reference text about domestic violence. It is not an instructional manual on how to escape from a batterer. Plenty of these exist. It is a travel guide to a country no one visits willingly, the collective tales of past travelers making the landscape less threatening, less alien. People have always counted on stories to make sense of their lives. In 1997, I set out to gather a particular set of stories. I traveled across the country interviewing women who were once in an abusive relationship, who left their abuser, and who went on to reconstruct their lives. It was far too easy for me to find these women. I met them everywhere: on airplanes, at conferences, in community board meetings, at religious services, in offices, schools, and hospitals. Their stories were difficult to hear. Ultimately, though, the pain of the stories was balanced by the humor, insight, and remarkable courage of the women who shared them with me.

About this edition

• Publisher: Agreka Tm Llc
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1888106964
• ISBN 13: 9781888106961
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 224