Insult to Injury
Rethinking our Responses to Intimate Abuse
Prologue
WALKING DOWN BETHNAL GREEN ROAD, AN ARTERIAL street in working-class East
London, I witnessed a remarkable scene. I was carrying my laundry and
talking with a friend when my focus was drawn to a mother walking with her
five-year-old son. He was demanding attention, as all children do, and her
patience suddenly snapped. She whipped around and smacked him across the
face. He staggered backward. I was shocked that I was witnessing this
violence at such close range and simultaneously struck by its intimacy and
familiarity. I had just watched a mother assault a child in broad daylight
in the middle of a crowded public street. I felt sad for the child and
angry with a mother who would treat her child this way. Before I could
respond, the child collected himself and, to my astonishment, stepped
forward and punched his mother in the stomach.
I turned and looked at my companion; we were both impressed and somewhat
pleased that the child had asserted his rights, stood up for himself, and
retaliated. Then it slowly dawned on me. In that split second, we had
witnessed the g ... read full excerpt from Insult to Injury: Rethinking our Responses to Intimate Abuse ebook
