WTP:
You wrote: “Studies have shown that many abusers were abused themselves in the past.”
This statistic has some merit, and inferring a causal relationship sounds logical. However, it can be badly misused, and this is highly destructive. I don’t recall the percentages cited in the studies, but they are not huge or anywhere approaching majority. I have heard people suggest that an abuse victim needs to be viewed as a potential perpetrator. I can hardly think of something more cruel and murderous, aside from shooting someone at point blank range. The overwhelming majority of victims never, ever become perpetrators. To criminalize a victim as a perpetrator is as abusive as a molester, perhaps more. The statistic must be understood in its true context. It may help us understand the mentality of the abuser, and might be considered a needed element of the therapy that he may undergo. But it is NOT meaningful or true to view abuse as a trigger for a continuing cycle, that the victim will convert into a perpetrator. It is untrue, statistically unfounded, and murderous when used this way.