Violent Partners: A Breakthrough Plan for Ending the Cycle of Abuse

This controversial book offers startling new perspective on domestic abuse. A radical new take on the crisis of intimate abuse, this book argues that as a culture we misunderstand the root causes and basic effects of abuse, and until that changes there is no hope of fixing the problem. Linda Mills (who was a battered and raped woman entangled in a violent relationship) challenges assumptions, tears down myths, and offer solutions, all the while telling riveting stories of couples who have suffered and survived violence in their relationships. She boldly asserts that: victim and abuser collaborate in the violence; Batterer Intervention Programs do not work; assumptions that women are helpless victims and men are simply brutal aggressors are dangerous; men and women are abused at similar rates, although men's injuries are less serious, and they are much more reticent to report them; Battered Woman Syndrome does not sufficiently explain why women turn on their abusers or fail to leave them; given the chance to escape their abusers, most women - more than 50 percent - want instead to salvage the relationship and choose to return; and, a judicial system that mandates separation of abuser and victim is problematic and often at odds with what the family wants. These are just some of the controversial and provocative arguments Linda Mills explores in great detail through the stories of men and women who are using her groundbreaking Circles program to improve their lives.