Bastard Out of Carolina has a wonderful scene where the Grandmother finds horrible bruises on the granddaughter, tells the men and they make sure step-dad gets the message.
However, in my experience, in quieter communities, abusers can hide neatly via fear, intimidation AND community status. IOW “He’s such a fine deacon and he says the most wonderful prayers to open Sunday School, he’d never do anything like that!”
For every way to protect, the monsters find away to do harm.
Yeah. I wasn’t saying it was right or that it worked but that there was a time when LE expected people to take care of some things themselves. Today though, the men that straightened the step dad out would probably be arrested and later sued by the step dad. We seem to have gone from one extreme to the other.