If a person knows all the abuse buzz words and reads extensive literature on abuse can she be overzealous towards abuse and perceive minor events as abusive?

Answer 1

Yes, it's possible in only a few cases. Just like sexual harassment is misused at times. A man could lean over a female with his hand on her shoulder to view her computer screen and she could scream out "sexual harassment." There was an instance at my husband's work (building yachts) where 2 women got into an actual physical fight. A main Supervisor (male) got in between them like he was parting two men and of course his hands were on both their chests (like you do when breaking up men in a fight.) One girl was OK about it, but the other screamed out sexual abuse. Thankfully there were witness' (some being othere women) and her charges weren't valid. If a man pushes a woman (not hard) while arguing or they get into a heated argument and he calls her a name, then some women will scream physical or mental abuse. The woman ceases to tell the whole story. Think of this .. some women think it's OK to slap a man's face if she feels he deserves it. Short of being raped not taking "no" for answer when he is getting fresh or physically beaten there is absolutely no reason for any woman to slap a man's face. Sometimes too much knowledge about a certain subject can get a person into trouble. PHYSICAL ABUSE: Shoving a person and they hit themselves on something or fall; Hitting with hands; Kicking; Biting; Scratching; Jabbing; Punching with a closed fist; Holding the woman down to restrain her when she is not doing anything. MENTAL ABUSE: Playing head games with her; Calling her names; Making her feel good one minute, then purposely making her feel bad the next; Lying to her; Cheating so she knows she is being cheated on. If you have done none of the above and this person is accusing you of abuse at every turn you make, you need to sit down with them and tell them to be responsible for what they read and their actions. Humans simply can get into heated arguments because life is full of stresses. If there is no hitting of any sort and no mind games or name-calling on your part, then there is absolutely no reason for a person to be labeled an abuser. Marcy I think that it's possible for someone who has read a lot about abuse to "know" but not really "understand", unless they have extremely good powers of empathy or have experienced abuse themselves or have seen (and empaphized with) a victim. In my experience an important feature of abuse is that it is usually a series of attacks on the whole person - a bit as I imagine torture is.