Abused women fined for returning to spouse

In Lexington, Ky., a judge fined two women for returning to their alleged abusers.

“You can’t have it both ways,” said a Fayette district judge at one of the hearings.

When I discussed this story with my friends, to my surprise, I found they felt the same way as the judge. They felt that if a woman is stupid enough to go back to her abuser and is abused again it is her fault and not the abuser’s.

The more I thought about this story the more outraged I became. I feel that if an abused woman is seeking help, someone needs to help her. Everyone makes mistakes, and it is not her fault that someone hit her. It is the fault of her attacker.

Sherry Curnes, executive director for the Domestic Violence Association, reportedly said that abused women might flee their attackers several times before they leave for good, because they can’t afford a new place to live, or they’re still in love. Regardless of what her situation is or how many times she flees and returns, if a woman is being abused, she should be granted any protection there is.

Hopefully, the victim will eventually see that if a man will hit you then he does not love you, and that there are shelters out there to protect you and give you a safe haven when one is needed.

A common misconception is that black women are not generally abused like white women are because a man knows better than to lay a finger on one of “us”. Well Rattlers think again. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that black women between 20- and 24-years-old tended to experience more attacks than white women.

In addition, they also reported that women in their high-school years to their mid-20s are nearly three times as likely to be attacked by a husband, boyfriend or former partner as are older women. These statistics should be a wake-up call to many of you who thought things like this did not happen to people like “us”.

We read articles and watch movies on Lifetime about women being abused by their partners, but we never stop to think that it could happen to us, or that it is happening to our friend, roommate or even family member.

It is time to stop living in a fantasy world and wake up. Look around our school, these things happen and it is time that we took notice and action.

Dana Vaughn, 18, is a freshman public relations student from Dallas. She can be reached at d_n_Vaughn@yahoo.com.