It involves the control of women by men who have defined the parameters of women's activities and enforced a male standard of accepted 'feminine' behavior. Wife-beating began with the first monogamous pairing relationships. Christianity and other patriarchal religions affirmed the male-dominated family structure, portrayed women as fit only for conjugal duties, and admonished men to beat their wives for serious transgressions. The subordinate position of women was further enforced by laws that deprived them of status as a person and that protected the patriarchal family structure. In addition, the cultural bias of male supremacy contributed to psychological concepts of feminity that were based on the view that women were inferior opposites of men. Thus, religious dogma, law, and the behavioral sciences have endorsed the husband's authority in the home and have justified his use of physical violence to punish a disobedient wife. Social institutions have regulated the relations between the sexes to maintain a double standard that effectively kept wives legally, emotionally, socially, and economically dependent on their husbands. Only recently have these attitudes toward men's and women's roles been changing and the social sanctioning of wife-beating been questioned. 31 references.