It’s difficult to understand why someone would abuse another person. Reasons for abuse could include:
Social beliefs
Most often, women and girls will become the victims of gender-based violence because of a “social ladder” belief in their community. A lot of men have been taught from a very young age that they are the “stronger” sex, and as a result they believe they have the right to discipline anyone (especially a woman) who is being disrespectful or disobedient to them.
Watching abuse teaches them the way
Some abusers learned to abuse from their parents. Often, these people grew up receiving abuse themselves or seeing others being abused. Due to this, abuse is the normal condition of life for these people.
Mental health or substance abuse issues
Someone could suffer from mental issues such as anger problems or have a substance abuse problem that could spur them to abuse another person. Alcohol and drug abuse play a big part in affecting the way someone interacts with other people. Abusing substances lowers inhibitions and often abuse occurs when the abuser is drunk or ‘high’.
None of these reasons are an ‘excuse’ for abuse. There is NO excuse, and perpetrators need to be helped to achieve appropriate and sustained behaviour change.