From the desk of CC

To: marriage@rci.rutgers.edu

re: Question about Domestic Violence and Marriage



This website uses the conclusions drawn by your "top ten myths of marriage" study in a "true/false" quiz.

I'm a little bit disturbed by how they use some of them, however.

For question six, they write:

True or False: Getting married increases a woman's chance of being abused.

Citing your study as proof, they answer:

False: Living together without the commitment and structure of marriage is frequently associated with a higher risk of domestic violence for women.

My concern is that the message here could reasonably be interpreted as "If only my boyfriend had the committment and structure of marriage, he'd stop hitting me. So I should marry him." I don't get this impression from the way you word it on your page, where you are more upfront about the shades of gray involved in this conclusion.

Do you think the way they use your conclusions is reasonable?

Thanks,

(CC)