But women were perhaps more helpless in relationships than they are today. As far as I know, most married women were dependent on their husbands, financially. It was harder to get out of a bad situation. It's slightly ironic in the novel that women go to the House of Gentle Men to be soothed by gentle loving, but many of them end up going to the barn afterwards to see Benjamin, the owner's horny adolescent son, who breaks their freshly-mended hearts. That is a very good question.
Women seem to be of two minds.
I would like to make a sweeping, unsupported statement now. If women could live to 140, there would be no more market for bad boys at all. I myself want a pool boy. This is another conversation. In the novel, Justin is able to atone for his sins by ministering to the woman who was his victim, and both of them are healed in the process.