What they share in common, however, is a belief that they can exert power over their intimate partners, and that this behavior is justifiable. The small minority of abused men include men in gay relationships. There are no statistics to indicate that South Asian women in arranged marriages are more abused than South Asian women in love marriages. Perpetrators of abuse marry women through both systems. However, forced marriages, including child marriages, are a form of abuse, and may lead to even greater violence against the woman.
Domestic violence is the extreme expression of the belief in male dominance over women.
Domestic violence continues because our silence as a community and as a society legitimizes the abuser's behavior. Men need to know that abuse of any kind will not be tolerated by anyone, and that there will be severe consequences for their actions. Domestic violence is part of a continuum of oppression in which women are violated in various ways throughout the world, including rape and sexual assault, incest, sexual harassment, female genital mutilation, dowry, etc. Batterers can change, because abuse is a learned behavior. However, abusers can change only if they first accept responsibility for their behavior and choose to learn new ways of communicating with their partner.