From time to time I get an email from bestdatingsites.org suggesting kindly that I might like to link to an article on their website. I was recently sent an email inviting me to link to a post entitled 10 Signs of Verbal Abuse in a Relationship. Forgive me for being churlish, but shouting, swearing and name calling are simply examples of verbal abuse and I am pretty sure that most recipients of such behaviour will recognise them as such without reference to a guide to the same from a dating website. And low self esteem, timidity and fear of failure are consequences of verbal abuse.

The article concludes: “If you recognized yourself as a victim of verbal abuse while reading these 10 signs, it is important that you seek help.” So the article is not aimed at the friends and family of victims of verbal abuse, to help them identify abuse that goes on behind closed doors. It is aimed at helping the victim identify the fact that they are suffering verbal abuse.

I know that many victims of domestic abuse (verbal and other forms) do not immediately recognise themselves as victims – because they do not recognise that the conduct of their partner as unacceptable or not normal – but I’m pretty sure most of them are cognisant of the behaviour itself.

Peut-etre: Could the fact that the article provides a mechanism to generate traffic to a commercial website offer some explanation for the apparent pointlessness of this article?

Enjoy your link bestdatingsites.org. It will be the last.