I bet every time you’ve victim blamed a woman and said, ‘why didn’t she just leave?’ You hadn’t considered ‘incase he ties up her and her family and kills them all with a crossbow’, as one of the options. We know for most women, the most dangerous moment in abuse is when they try to leave. You are most likely to be seriously attacked or killed as you leave, or just after you leave. That was certainly true for me. Twice. One time resulted in lifelong injuries. Both resulted in police investigations and arrests. Just from choosing to end the relationship. So next time you learn that a woman is stuck in abuse and can’t/won’t leave, maybe reserve your judgement and consider how much risk she knows she is at.