MEn do it too....the guy I was dating recently told me all the time how his soon-to-be-ex-wife treated him like crap for over 20 years...then he went back to her. He had been sexually abused as a child, so I know where it came from, but it kills me to know he is in a living hell when he could have been happy.
Abuse ..it's not just for women anymore!

Women that have been in relationships with drug addicts and/or
alcoholics can get self-esteem issues too. A counselor friend told me that they can get some degree of PTSD and depression and lowered self-esteem.

When one can't understand how a woman that was abused as a child is comfortable with it as adult, just think of when a child grew up in an addicted family. That's all they know and they may end up in relationships with alcoholics/addicts. They grew up feeling and thinking that it was normal to have an addicted parent. That's all they can relate to and they know the role.

I have slash scars across my back from a woman attacking me with a butcher knife while I was handcuffing her hubby on domestic violence charges. He shattered her nose, and cheekbone, yet she still came after me. It is a confusing situation, and one I will never understand. I do not understand someone who can beat the person he suposedly loves, or the abused sticking around for more rounds