Domestic abuse happens only in intimate, interdependent, long-term relationships - in other words, in families - the last place we would want or expect to find violence.

[Domestic violence is] a carefully laid physical, financial and psychological trap.

We should hold abusers — and no one else — responsible for the damage they inflict.

I did not know that the first step in any domestic violence relationship is to seduce and charm the victim. I also did not know that the second step is to isolate the victim. The next step in the domestic violence pattern is to introduce the threat of violence and see how she reacts. We victims know something you [non-victims] usually don't. It's incredibly dangerous to leave an abuser, because the final step in the domestic violence pattern is to 'kill her'. Over 70% of domestic violence murders happens after the victim has ended the relationship.

It's incredibly dangerous to leave an abuser, because the final step in the domestic violence pattern is: kill her.

The question, 'Why does she stay?' is code for some people for, 'It's her fault for staying,' as if [domestic violence] victims intentionally choose to fall in love with men intent upon destroying us.

Women are naturally competitive. That's what drives women to form cliques at early age.