This article describes the context of women's relationships with battering men. Social chaos as the context of battering emergedfrom a grounded theory study of women's perceptions of danger in their relationships with battering men. Social chaos is created by a combination of factors: abusive men's unpredictability and use of unbalancing behaviors, contradictions, women's impaired sense of self, and the secrecy of battering. Chaos creates a sense of danger in battered women and serves to control their behavior. Social chaos is a component of dangerousness and has implications for assessing danger in woman battering.
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