The tradition of beating a life partner appeared in Russia after the adoption of Christianity. Now this will seem surprising, but in the days of paganism, a woman was an equal member of society. Until the 11th century, women were under the protection of their father and brothers all their lives, even when they got married. Although this did not apply to stolen or bought wives, who were equated with slaves. The woman did not lose her rights after marriage. She could even divorce if something did not suit her in her husband.
Together with the baptism, Russia adopted a new morality, which provided for the "salvation of the soul" of a woman. How? Naturally, regular beatings - "instigations0 -" for her own good. The fact is that many priests, deacons and priests, perceived women as the root of all evil, believed that from birth there was a devilish principle in her, which needed to be “pacified” from time to time, or not allowed to come out through “preventive” beatings … Gradually, this perception of a woman spread throughout Russia and became traditional. The same applied to children, by the way.
A woman in general in early Christianity was equated with unintelligent and undeveloped children. Such beatings were considered a form of custody and concern for the purity and salvation of a woman's soul. In other words, if a man hits his wife, it means that he cares about her, expresses his love and care. These rules of correct family life were also reflected in the famous literary monument "Domostroy". This is how the saying “beats means loves” appeared.
Is it any wonder that women became convinced of the veracity of this saying and therefore perceived the absence of corporal punishment as a manifestation of indifference and "dislike". If he doesn’t hit, it means he doesn’t love.
It took many, many decades for Christians to gradually eradicate from the list of rules of "dubious quality" everything that actually contradicts religion itself and goes against its fundamental moral principles. However, even now, in the 21st century, society still has a lot to fix.
