I have read with interest Jaya Balgobin’s “Why men batter women” in lexpress-outlook issue of … October 2004. She has made some interesting points, but I would like to add the following:

I wonder how many of these men are subconsciously moved by an inferiority complex when either they are having some problem with their virility (erectile dysfunction in the new technology) or their earning power, their place in the job hierarchy or their social status has been surpassed by their partner.

A retired psychiatrist told me that, in his practice, the great majority of such men used to be alcoholics. This begs the question of why the alcoholism. Could it be that some of those women who keep silent over their suffering may be masochistic which is the counterpart of sadistic?

<B>Dr François Saw Lan IP</B>