I just happened across this extraordinary paragraph in recent law review article (entitled “Why Judy Norman Acted in Reasonable Self-Defense: An Abused Woman and a Sleeping Man,” 23 Buff. Women’s Law Journal 65 (2007)), and I thought I’d share it with you all:
The prevailing belief is that individuals are independent, autonomous beings, and therefore, free to leave, to exit, any situation at any time. I disabuse the students in my Violence Against Women class of this notion on the first day by asking them if they have ever stayed in any situation