Even animals who have been abused react and become wary,distrustful, defensive. You have to really wonder about people who refuse to exercise basic animal instinct to protect themselves after bad experience.
Abusive men have a finely tuned radar to seek out this kind of woman - those who are vulnerable, who are distrusting, who have never been loved in a healthy way.
And they do everything right, they're perfect, everything you dreamed of - up until they throw that first punch, or knock your boiling tea all over you, or smash up your phone, or they first put their hands round your neck.
And of course by then, they've made sure it's not as simple as just leaving. You have kids together, a home, a life. And even if you did leave, they know where you work, where the kids go to school, where your mum lives. They'd find you and it'd be worse than ever before.
They've also made damn sure you know it's all your own fault. That something about you makes men do this. After all, it's happened before, hasn't it?