Why do you think that he is mentally ill? There is no mental illness that makes someone an abuser. Sometimes mental health issues can compound abuser behavior, as can substance abuse, but there is no batterer pathology. I see that suicide threats are mentioned, which could indicate a MH issue, but threats of their own…

It isn't necessarily part of the public record. Not all court files are public record. Many family court records are sealed to protect children, for instance. And some states do not make PFA petitions public. Whether or not it is public information, however, doesn't bear on whether or not it is appropriate to…

Since others are touching on the rarity of false accusations and the difference between criminal and civil matters and burdens of proof, I'll avoid restating any of their points.

I haven't worked with any famous women. I mean, they are probably a little out of our 200% of poverty grant guidelines for a public interest attorney. It may also have to do with the fact that I practice in Scranton, PA, a place that famous people only pretend to be from.

Here in PA, the orders are public but the petitions are specifically barred from being made public. Orders don't include facts/allegations.

That could be true, though in my experience, I doubt it. For the women I work with (and research on DV lethality assessment backs this up), the only person you worry about in terms of your safety is the abuser. Even if our society was one that heard and protected victims/survivors of domestic violence, which it is…

Please pick up your torches and pitchforks for the Jezebel flash mob witch hunt. You'll find them on the shelf right between the diva cups and lentils. To the streets, hags! Destroy the pretty ones!

Normally, I'm pretty chill about this sort of stuff. As long as it isn't affecting others, I say you do you, crazy Christians.

I only care about being able to roast a chicken when I want to eat some fucking roasted chicken. A problem of the single and not wealthy, that. Nobody's going to make me a roasted chicken but me, so I'd best know how to make one.

I am disappointed to see what appears to be quotes from a protection from abuse petition as gossip fodder. Shame and fear of exposure are two of the most powerful pieces in an abuser's toolbox. We have recently seen most vividly how our society continues to view victims/survivors of abuse - in our culture, this kind…

Considering how well Bette-backing-Bette is on Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, I am really looking forward to this.

YOU GUYS, I'M REALLY WORRIED ABOUT NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE.

I was surprised to find some comfort in the changes that were made from the book. It might be because I am too attached to the books, but I appreciate that there are things that are kept special to the books and not portrayed on screen, things that just stay between the author, the characters, and the readers. I built…

I was disappointed about #1, too. I would have appreciated it as a loveletter to book fans, it wouldn't work the same way. In the book, we get, "'Holy God,' said James Fraser, who never took the name of his Lord in vain." But just having him say, "Holy God," without the narrator to tell us why it is significant,…

There's also this to consider:

When Jamie takes off her corset later, you see that there is a string that runs through the entire seam, tightening the whole getup. When she asks him to take off his shirt and then he asks her to take off hers, this is the string that she undoes in a sexy manner.

This was in some ways more graphic than porn. In the best way possible. The very best way.

I would spend 15 years building a wonderland for my cats and I would succeed in just giving them something grander to ignore. I shall now go to gaze mournfully at my Cabinet of Rejected Cat Toys.

These dudes better also be really into doing laundry.

Having forgotten to turn down the volume when I switched to earbuds, I may never recover from the "HOOPLAHA!" that now rings in my ears.