My experience is a little more than 20 years old, but I can tell you that battered wives are not just a regional problem with the JW's. My husband beat me, drove into oncoming traffic to terrorize me, threatened to kill me and himself. He was committed twice to a psych hospital against his will, once by the order of a doctor and the second time by order of a judge. He confessed all of these things to the elders and was never reprimanded in any way. HIs uncle was an elder in the first congregation we attended, but he had no connections in the second congregation. The elders seemed to focus their attention on me by telling me that if I was a better wife, his problems would be solved. I was also advised by a MS that my JW husband was a homosexual and trying to fight it, which was causing his mental disturbance. I was told that if I lost weight, his homosexual tendencies would cease. Needless to say, after several years of physical abuse and psychological torture, I filed for divorce. I was promptly disfellowshipped, because I told the elders I didn't agree with the not being free to remarry thing. It's not that I had another husband in mind, but if they didn't punish him for what he did to me, how could I expect them to punish him if he committed adultery? By the way, he was also buying pornography and doing wierd sexual things like giving himself oral sex (yes, he could do it to himself but hurt his back in the process, as one would imagine). All of this occured in two different states a few hundred miles apart.
