But, it is critical to remember that abusive men were, in fact, considered wicked in the West
While that might be true to some (not very big) extent, it was widely accepted that if a woman got the shit beaten out of her, the community would cluck and wonder what she did to cause him to beat her like that. She would get lectured about cleaning better, cooking better meals, and dressing and making her face up the way her husband wanted her to. It was considered her fault. And the next time it happened, more of the same plus a big helping of “didn’t I tell you this before? Don’t you ever listen? Maybe that’s the problem” would occur.
This was a time when it was considered a man’s job to control his wife. She was his property, not his equal. She couldn’t own property, and even if she could, when she got married, the property would automatically be transferred into his name. Women weren’t allowed to have bank accounts - if the wife had a job (and this was a lot more common that conservatives like to pretend), she gave her check to her husband and he deposited it and usually instead of giving her back the entire thing, he’d give her an “allowance” and then spend the rest as he saw fit. If he wanted to spend it on the family, he did. If he wanted to spend it on beer down at the bar with his buddies he did that.
All of this changed with feminism. While some of the gross old “it’s your fault he bashed your face so hard he knocked your teeth out” attitude is still around, most people don’t think that way now, and we don’t joke to ourselves that it’s about “protecting” anyone. Now, instead of victim blaming, we encourage her to get out when she can and there are ways to do that - all because of the work that feminists have done to make the world better not just for women but everyone.