it might be YOUR reality. But it's not MY reality. just like beating a wife may be SEAN CONNERY'S reality.. but, thankfully, we got past all there here... eh?
and no, it didn't always "happen behind closed doors", bitch.
Yet ... there can be no doubt that wife-beating was once common and, in most legal circles, acceptable if it didn't "go too far." The origin of "rule of thumb" may not be accurate, but the culture that it calls to mind was real. Debunking the myth of the origin of "rule of thumb" may be fun, but that doesn't make domestic violence, past and present, mythical. Nor is it a myth that culture has tolerated such violence. Domestic violence was, and is, very real. That women had little recourse was very real. Debunking the myth of the origin of "rule of thumb" cannot be used to debunk the reality of domestic violence or the role that cultural acceptance plays in keeping domestic violence a reality in too many lives.
Rule of Thumb and Wife-Beating - Mostly a Myth