WI Legislators Think Abusive Relationships Are Still Better Than Single Parenthood

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Mar 28, 2012 9:40PM

Wisconsin state Rep. Don Pridemore (R-Hartford) and Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) really don't want single parents raising children, even if the parents' relationship is abusive. Grothman and Pridemore co-sponsored that law tying single parenthood to child abuse, and they're not backing down.

"There's been a huge change over the last 30 years, and a lot of that change has been the choice of women," Grothman told Milwaukee's TMJ4. When asked about women in abusive relationships, Rep. Pridemore told the news station that ladies should just think of the better times. "If they can refind those reasons and get back to why they got married in the first place it might help," said Pridemore.

Here's a fun fact these two might want to know: Witnessing violence between one’s parents or caretakers is the strongest risk factor of transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next. This supports what state Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) said about the single parenthood bill, "What this bill does is call out and chastise women who have babies and are unmarried."

A woman sent a snarky email to tell Pridemore what she thought of his views, and it was given Jezebel's "Crap Email From A Dude" treatment.

From: XXX XXX Sent: Fri 3/23/2012 11:40 AM To: Rep.Pridemore Subject: In response to your comment about divorce in case of abuse

Mr. Pridemore -

I would like to make a deal with you. I propose we live together (I'll even relocate to Wisconsin!) for a year in an abusive relationship. I'll beat the shit out of you on a regular basis, verbally assault you, make you live in extreme fear, break down any shred of self-worth you might have, all that good stuff. After 12 months, we can both reevaluate our positions on the issue.

Granted, you don't know me well enough to "love me," thus giving you happy thoughts to call on when I'm beating you violently, but let's see what we can work out. What do you say? :)

The response she received from Pridemore's office was... dumb.

On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 12:42 PM, Rep.Pridemore wrote:

Congrats, this IS the dunbest e-mail yet!
Bill Savage
Office of Don Pridemore

By the way, if you find Pridemore's and Grothman's views detestable, there's a Facebook group for that called "Men and women who detest Sen. Grothman and Sen. (sic) Pridemore."