Let me start with a story. A few years ago, back in my country, there was a pretty big case where this 23 yo girl committed suicide after being routinely beated by his 35 yo boyfriend. When she first met him, she described him as a "insufferable cocky guy with a dead stare". They started dating soon after this and he started controlling her pretty early on, for example, by forbidding her to go out partying or meeting her friends. Nevertheless she moved in with him, and after that he started getting physically violent. Her mom intervened and she managed to make them break up, but this girl kept coming back to him without her mom knowing. Eventually, they had a very big fight at his place, the police got called to the appartment and while they were interviewing they guy, she leaped through the window and killed herself.

Of course the mom blamed the guy and I do believe he's a piece of shit, but I think the most important question here is why women do this? Why do they stay in relationships with men who routinely abuse them? I could understand this being an issue if they have kids in common with the guy, but this also happens with childless, unmarried couples. Shouldn't be common sense to stay away from someone who's violent or controlling?