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1. My reaction to this kind of abuse was to keep quiet, as that is what my mom wanted. My brother constantly tried to get involved and it only caused him and my mom pain. When it's your father/step-father (in my case it was step as my father wasn't a violent man) or even your mother/step-mother, there really is so much you can do. As a child you don't really understand the severity of the situation, at least to an extent, and you're not sure what to do. That can carry on into teenage years, and you can feel pretty stuck. Also, if the abused in question doesn't want your help, or any kind of help whatsoever, that's a real big wall in the way of stopping the abuse. You can call the police as much as you want, you can tell whoever you want, if the abused doesn't want help, they'll deny up and down anything is wrong so nothing happens. It's been done time and time before and it'll continue to happen, which is the sad truth. Sometimes things can get better (my step-father shaped up, became religious, stopped drinking, asked for forgiveness from everyone he had hurt. He still has grumpy moments, but everyone has those) and sometimes they don't, but in this situation you can't always help which way it goes.

2. If I found out a friend of mine was abusive, male or female, I would question why. I'd sit down and talk with them to get to the bottom of it. If the person showed no signs of this before, and it was just with their significant other, I'd ask why they thought they deserved that, what brought on this behavior, what made them so violent toward the person. I'd talk it out with them to try and get them to stop, as no one wants to see a friend go down that path, nor see the abused in question be hurt in such a way. If there really is nothing I can say or do to help them quit it, then I'd tell them that the friendship would be over, that I couldn't consider an abuser a friend. I couldn't associate with someone who thought the best way to solve something was to hurt another person, so I'd leave it at that and walk away.

3. No matter how loving my boyfriend was, if suddenly started being abusive, then I would have to leave. I couldn't say that I'd leave right at the first incident, as like with a friend, I'd try to talk it out and ask why it even happened. I'd get to the bottom of it, but if nothing good came out of that, I'd end the relationship. I'd only be willing to talk it out because of the history between us, but that would be it. It would only take one talk, and if it wasn't fixed at that point, then I know it never would be. It's not worth staying with someone no matter what you had if what you will have is no better.

I didn't either, but like I said, not much could be done about it since she didn't want anything done. He doesn't do it anymore, hasn't for years, but for most people it doesn't change the fact that he did.
But since he doesn't anymore, we don't hold it over him, since he actually tried to stop and did. He knows what he did was wrong and bringing it over him would only turn back the progress he's made.
So we've just left it alone now. Things are better now and we're thankful for that. My mom is happy and that's really all we wanted.

Yeah, I'm glad he decided to change himself for the better. I still don't like him all too much, but it's because his personality doesn't mesh with mine. He's loud and and thinks all his jokes are hilarious. But I'd rather him laughing at his own dumb jokes than going back to the way he used to be. If my mom was willing to forgive him and now they're both happy, that's what counts.