Don’t Shoot the Messenger… “Few Women In Abuse Shelters Are True Victims Of Violence”

I can’t help but to think the following is untrue:

“Few Women In Abuse Shelters Are True Victims Of Violence”

Post Chronicle writer Carey Roberts writes:

Lachrymose tales of battered women abound when representatives of abuse shelters come calling, hat in hand, for taxpayer money. But what is the truth of the matter — are abuse shelters really brimming with hapless victims trying to break free of the cycle of violence?

The answer to that question is a surprising “No.” In the great majority of cases, women at abuse shelters have suffered no physical injury or harm…

She then goes on to say:

… the Hawaii Department of Human Services reports only 8% of persons at shelters require emergency medical attention – and emergency care can include non-abuse related problems like getting an abscessed tooth removed…

…So if the women in these shelters are seldom there to salve their injuries, what are they doing there?

One common reason is drug and alcohol abuse.

A resident at the First Step shelter in Harrisonburg, Va. revealed, “I soon discovered that I was the only woman there for protection purposes. Most of the other women were using the shelter as a halfway house. The other women had been kicked out by their spouses for drug use, and had no where else to go.”

I think this writer has no idea what its like to be a battered women.  Abuse comes in all forms.  Just because a lady isn’t physically harmed or injured, doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be able to go to a shelter.

My mom worked at an Shelter for abused women, and I myself saw many of the Abused Women that were taken in.

When I read crap like that above…it pisses me off.

There is no excuse for domestic abuse… And a writer writing something like this just burns my britches!

Of course this comes on the announcement that October is Domestic Abuse Awareness Month:

…There were six domestic violence-related homicides each year in 2006 and 2007 in Hawai’i. This year, through mid-August, that number has grown to seven, showing that there is still much to be done in the prevention of this destructive behavior…