ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the various forms of abuse and their particular relation to individual and group maternal representations. Abuse of women has many forms and consequences: psychological, economic, political, religious, cultural, and physical. Economic abuse is another form in which women are treated as if they were commodities. The maternal representation applied to the workplace may be equally abusive to women. The maternal representation found in economic abuse can be connected to the original source of all that is needed and desired. Financial, human, and physical resources are necessary for civilizations to continue. The regression that intimacy includes relates to the maternal representation and the care giving that it involves. In particular, destructive religious attitudes towards female sexuality, female reproduction, female authority, and the maternal representation are common. Abuse of women is almost always sexual in nature, directed at sexuality and involving reproductive potential.
