314 Violence Against Women
The Story of Laura and Luis
Luis was 12 years older than Laura and was already a successful merchant when
they met. He sold his goods to the store where Laura worked as a clerk to help
her family pay the rent. Luis was charming and would talk about the kind of life
they could have together. He told Laura he would buy her anything she wanted
and she would be his “best woman.” He often bought her new clothes that he
liked to admire her in, telling her how pretty she would be if she stopped dressing
the way she did. He eventually began to see her every day, and soon asked her to
quit her job and marry him.
After they married, Laura expected Luis to keep his promises. Instead, things
began to change. He would not allow her to go out, because she “looked so ugly.”
In fact, he took all the beautiful clothes he had bought her and burned them, saying,
“That stupid, ugly woman didn’t deserve such clothes.”
One day Luis came home in the middle
of the day and tore all the clean wash
down from the line, accusing Laura of
sleeping with his friend. When she
said that she had just gone to visit her
mother, Luis called her a lying whore
and hit her. He said she would not go
to visit her family—they did not want
her either. He never said anything
more about it, but when he came
home later that night, he brought her a
present and told her how much he loved her and wanted to take care of her.
When Laura got pregnant, she thought Luis would start treating her better. But
it seemed to give him more excuses to hurt her. When he got angry, he started
hitting and kicking her in the stomach. She was terrified she would lose the baby,
but she had no place to go. She believed Luis when he said her family did not want
her, and besides, she had no money of her own. There were times when Luis would
go several weeks without losing control, and Laura would convince herself that
everything was OK. He really did love her, after all. If only she could learn how to
avoid setting him off. She would try even harder than before, but nothing helped.
Through the years, Luis drank too much, threw her against walls, and would force
her to have sex even when her body ached from his beatings. Laura awoke one
night to find him holding a knife to her throat. The next day, he told her she was
imagining things, that she was crazy. He always said that if she told anyone “lies”
about him he would kill her. She didn’t tell anyone and she went out as little as
possible. She hated the thought of anyone seeing her bruises and knowing what he
did to her. Laura often thought about leaving, but she did not know where to go.
After 12 years of being his wife, not only was Laura afraid of what he would
do to her, but without him she would have no home, no money, no father for her
children. Luis had said bad things about her to the people at the store where she
used to work, and she knew that, because of her children, no one would take her in
as a domestic servant. Laura felt so alone.
Where Women Have No Doctor 2012