The first two chapters address the socialization of girls to women both within the family and within the larger culture. The common thread across cultural differences is the learning of a belief system that devalues women, especially unmarried women, and creates a sense of female responsibility for the maintenance of an emotionally stable family. Three chapters then discuss the effects of victimization in general, the mechanisms that underlie emotional learning, posttraumatic stress, and the appropriateness of extrapolating these concepts to battered women. These chapters also consider how battering evokes chronic fear. The relevance of learning theory is particularly significant as an explanation for the development and maintenance of fear in battered women and in persons who become involved in the battering relationship. One chapter describes the psychological impact of trauma on the victims of abuse. A subsequent chapter presents an overview of prevention strategies and possible interventions at many levels: therapeutic, educational, legislative, and social. The concluding chapter presents insights by women who not only survived their abuse but became empowered to effect change in their own lives. 546 references and a subject index