With adequate resources and support many women not only create new lives for themselves, but also become advocates for battered women's rights. Violence or the threat of using it are ways that batterers achieve power and control over their female partners. Unchallenged, men who batter come to learn that violence is an acceptable and effective way to resolve problems. Men who batter come from all classes, races, religions, income and educational levels. Many batterers are not violent in other relationships, such as at work or with friends.
Many abusers have a rigid traditional view of sex roles and parenting.
Batterers are more focused on their own needs than on the pain or fear that their violence causes their victims. The majority of men who batter are not mentally ill. Alcoholism or drug abuse do not cause battering. Intoxication may only intensify an already existing violent behavior. Batterers characteristically deny the existence and severity of their violence.