One woman returned to her batterer for 12 years. Within three months of reading my book that woman was out of the abusive relationship. Each story illustrates the sickness of a society that permits the death of 1,200 women a year at the hands of their husbands and boyfriends, she said.
Men have implicit permission to batter.
Koppelman pointed out that domestic violence is the number one cause of murder among women. After Koppelman spoke, she invited the audience to share stories and experiences about domestic violence. One woman described how her boyfriend repeatedly hit her, causing blindness in her left eye. But the barriers in a legal system where 90 percent of family violence offenders are never prosecuted make such recourse unlikely. A survivor of domestic violence, Koppelman believes that intervention, even violent intervention, is needed to save women's lives.