The sample consisted of 18 men who had battered their wives; their ages ranged from 25- to 57-years-old. None of the men had been diagnosed with nor had they ever been treated for mental illness, mental retardation, or chronic substance abuse. The intensity and frequency of the self-reported violence varied from minor to severe following the definitions in the Conflict Tactics Scale-2. Data for the study were collected during two semistructured, indepth interviews that focused on the emotional life stories of the participants as presented and interpreted by the men. The analysis and typologies were substantiated through a feedback interview with each participant. Three dominant themes were identified in the data analysis. These were the father-son relationship, the batterers' perception of their wives as the embodiment of their primal emotions, and emotionality as a threat to masculinity. From these themes, three emotional profiles were constructed. The "Needy Type" perceives himself as a victim and feels strong emotions of grief, loss, depression, and loneliness. His feelings of being "a loser" and his passiveness enable him to accumulate emotional reservoirs that erupt in outbursts of anger and violence, which are perceived by him as "fighting to regain what was mine." The "Confused Type" is flooded periodically with emotions of helplessness, tension, and ambivalence toward himself and his partner. This flood of emotion is due to his inadequate ability to regulate intimacy. His most natural and familiar emotion is anger, which is also easy to express in a manly way to relieve a sense of weakness, helplessness, and shame. The "Living-in-a-Gap Type" has expectations for his partner that are detached from the reality of her behavior and her perception of their life together. He is guided by rigid gender-roles stereotypes and seeks to control his partner's behaviors accordingly. Jealousy and anger suppress other less "masculine" emotions such as shame, frustration, and loneliness. 41 references