To the editors:
Re: “Men Who Beat Women” January 10.
The narratives imply that it is psychotic, bitchy, rejecting women who are abused. Please understand that the impulse to scapegoat is irrational: It doesn’t need a reason. People who destroy property, kick the dog, hit the wife, or play sadistic mind games do it because they get away with it. They regard petty annoyances or big disappointments as belonging to someone else because they are too selfish to accept these things for themselves. Abusers can act like nice guys when they are courting because they always get what they want.
What am I trying to say? I divorced an abuser, and I was never his counterpart.
Unsigned
Chicago