When I was 21, I fell for a James Dean lookalike who very much fitted the "rebel without a cause" syndrome. I did come from a very repressed religious background, and I suppose there was a feeling of "you and me against the world" about it, but anyway, we fell in love and got married. I'm sure my parents thought I was doing it to rebel, and it certainly was good to get away from that atmosphere, but that wasn't my reason at the time - at least not on a conscious level.

Unfortunately it turned out that he had a huge chip on his shoulder about many things, including the fact that he 'had' to keep rescuing his alcoholic father. For some reason he blamed his mother for all of this, and this seemed to develop into a hatred and anger towards all women. In the end his anger ended up being focused on me because I was there and I was a handy punching bag. After years of abuse, I finally got up the courage to leave, and I've never looked back.

If I knew what made the Bad Boys so irresistible, I might not have got so sucked in. A lot of us have been there and done that. It can defy all logic - all I can think of is that it is an animal magnetism. The post further up about the alpha male came close, I think. No matter how smart and educated we women are, there is a part of us that can betray us and let us down. It seems to have less power over us as we get older - although not always. I think we always need to be vigilant. As far as I'm concerned though - NEVER AGAIN!!!