Is it normal that people think battered women choose to allow it to continue

Ehhhhh, not really. I grew up with my mother being married to an abuser. He beat and raped her. She tried to leave but he said he would kill her and us if she did. Given that his first wife just disapeared out of existence, she took that seriously. Then when she did try to go to court, they couldn't charge him with anything, so he was still out there trying to find us.

I can somewhat (only somewhat) see your point if they got away from their abuser and got away clean with them, then randomly goes back to the abuser when they got out of the whole abusive relationship, but only under that narrative.

It's all so much more complicated than that, IMO.
If the abuse develops later in the marriage when there are kids and she wants to leave, but hasn't the money, or way to support her children, then what? If there are no shelters available.
What if the abuser is a cop? That's a real and all too frequent problem.
Sometimes reporting the abuse can be nearly fatal for the woman.
There is cut and dry answer as each case is different. I would like to agree with you, but I just can't because there are some women who just see no way out.

i didn't say there would not be consequences to their choice....but there is no lack of choice for these women. They just have to live with whatever choice they make.

leavinga bad situation is more complicated than you think. Trust me I lived it a long time ago when I was young and stupid.my ex husband was a very good actor. The neighbors and cops felt sorry he had such a crazy wife. The shelters aren't always accessible and they are often crowded and have all these rules that make it hard if you have children or dogs you don't want to leave.I try to help other people going through this personally when I can.

I agree that in many situations a woman simply cannot get out of it whether it is because she is afraid for her own life or the people she loves, she not financially capable, or even if it is due to a mental problem that makes this person stay in this relationship even though they see the danger. Anyone in such a situation has my sympathies, but I knew a girl who wanted to be in a relationship with a guy even though he was known to be abusive. She said it herself, "I don't care if he might be abusive. I still want to be his girlfriend." We argued about the topic and she defended women staying in a relationship because of "love". As if "love" is a damn good reason for someone to get their ass kicked everyday.

I look at staying in an abusive relationship the same way I look at anorexia. Even though the person is killing themselves, they have an illness that keeps them from seeing it or getting out of it. I do not think it is out of foolishness that drives a woman to stay in a relationship with someone who batters her, but I think it is an illness or, like many are saying, she simply is not capable of or is too afraid to get out. However, I will never respect anyone who defends allowing abuse to happen. Abuse is bad whether you are in "love" or whatever bullshit excuse someone might be willing to spew, and I encourage anyone who is dealing with it, man or woman, to seek help or try to get out of it as soon as possible.

True dat.

I have thought about this before and I get the abuser will sometimes make threats, but what I don't get is why someone wouldn't simply kill someone who made threats. It shouldn't be that hard to kill someone you live with and sometimes life will give us that responsibility whether it is desired or not.

This article > http://www.cracked.com/article_22020_5-cartoons-that-tried-and-failed-to-tackle-serious-issues.html

The batman episode - has it affected you?

It truly depends on the situation. Some abusers are very scary and lead the person to believe if they report them, they will kill them or their family members/friends. There have been times when that's happened as well. Where someone would report the abuser but because of lack of evidence, they can't hold him so he'd murder his wife.