Erin pizzey on feminism history

HISTORY: In 1971 I opened the first refuge in the world for victims of domestic violence. I was running a small community project in Chiswick, a London suburb when a woman came in and showed me her bruises. I took her home that night and from then on women with their children poured through the door.

My little community centre became the first refuge in the world for all victims of domestic violence.

Because from the beginning, I was aware that domestic violence was not a gender issue, I opened a refuge for men in North London that closed for lack of support and funding.

Erin pizzey quotes

I was aware that of the first hundred women who came into the refuge sixty-two were as violent or in some cases, more violent than the men they left behind. I wrote up my findings in 'A Comparative Study of Battered Women and Violence-Prone Women' as yet unpublished.

I believe that violence in interpersonal relationships is a learned pattern of behaviour in early childhood. Some children who are exposed to violenc