In 2025, society, when it’s living up to its ideals, doesn’t shrug off abusive violence towards women and children. Beating up your wife is not a subject for jokes. But back in the early 1970s, it was. Police in that era routinely ignored ‘battered women’ and refused to protect them. Judges didn’t enforce laws and even blamed women for getting beaten.

On Thursday, April 4, the Shadowland Theater in Ellenville hosted a showing of Women Helping Women – a film that put that history of violence against women on center stage.

Through video of interviews with Terry Funk-Antman, Bonnie Wagner, and Ruth Levine, local women’s rights activists who are all veterans of the struggle against such violence, the astonishing dimensions of what society was prepared to ignore in that era were made clear.

The video is somewhat raw. But the lack of professional polish adds to the impact. These women know what they’re talking about, and it can be intense revisiting the days when domestic violence was considered a punchline pretty much everywhere (‘Straight to the moon, Alice!’ was only about as old then as Parks and Recreation is now).

One point that the women interviewed made again and again was how in those days, just fifty years ago, so many women were virtually helpless if they were being abused by a husband. They lacked bank accounts, credit cards, their own cars, and they often had very little work experience.

The audience stayed in place for the discussion afterwards, too.

Funk-Antman recalled how, in those days, people would ignore the bruises on neighbors’ faces – walking past them in the supermarket, as if nothing was amiss.

“We never knew,” she recalled, “that these women’s homes became their prisons.”

Bonnie Wagner said a gradual understanding of the situation in the area led to the creation of a committee to figure out some kind of response to the problem of domestic violence. Out of this movement, Family of Woodstock found a renewed purpose, which has helped thousands of women since.

“These women would come in and they had nothing,” Wagner said. “No money, just the clothes they had on when they fled the house.”

And in some ways what made it all worse was that this was usually a complete surprise. They never imagined being abused before they got married. Psychological shock was added to the bruises and humiliation.

The event was paired with the launch of domestic violence services in Ellenville from Family of Woodstock/Ellenville. These new services see the return of Vivian Roman to Ellenville. She was formerly the director of Family of Ellenville. She was welcomed by her successor, Tiffany Santiago.

Phil Mattracion, chief of Ellenville Police, says that domestic violence is becoming “more and more common” in the village. The incidents, he reports, are “the most dangerous thing we deal with.” Mattracion pointed back to December last year. “One of my guys in a December call was injured. He suffered a severe knee injury from that.”

And he adds something that is often not considered.

“It’s not just husband-and-wife violence. It can be mother-and-son, or father-and-daughter, or even cousin-and-cousin. Any intimate partnership can produce this kind of violence. We have so much more of a broad scope for this than we had back in the ‘80s and ‘70s.”

Mattracion thinks the work is not anywhere near done.

“While we have specific policy that is in conformance with New York State standard for DV cases,” he said. “Our police go above and beyond what’s mandated to report on any case that we get even if it’s a simple argument. I want the ability to track DV cases and review them on a daily basis so that we can be sure to be prepared for anything that might become dangerous for a victim. When we go to an address on those cases, we make sure to offer help and transportation. So. if we are reviewing cases, we can make the effort to prevent any serious or lethal violence.”

If you get an opportunity to see Women Helping Women don’t miss it.

If you are involved in a situation with domestic violence, then give Family a call at (845) 647-5700 for help.