Sorry to hear that, Skip. It very much used to be considered that what happened behind closed doors was "family" business and that other people shouldn't interfere (the subtext being that men own women and children, and that they can largely do what they want with them). Before 1920, it wasn't illegal to beat your wife (or kids) and really not until the 1970s that these laws were even enforced at all. A sad state of affairs, indeed.