This chapter moves on to discuss the wider feminist principles and innovative policies of, in the main, the domestic violence movement, but of rape crisis too. They all stemmed directly from women's liberation. The idea of these two chapters is that we can perhaps learn from these innovations, and that it is vital to preserve, to remember and to celebrate them.

Women-only

One of the most important and most basic of these principles was, and continues to be, the commitment to being womenonly. Thus, most refuge groups, like rape crisis centres, were and remain, organisations of women, working with women for women, with roots in the women's liberation movement. Survivors who have suffered sometimes severe violence and violations may be intimidated by the presence of men. So, it can be particularly recuperative to leave these problems behind, to begin the process of recovery in a safe space. Women (who had previously been facing domestic violence, often in isolation and fear) living in Women's Aid refuge projects from the early 1980s on often said how wonderful it was to find out that there were other women who would help them, in a space without any men – that women could stand firm together.

The women-only principle could, however, be compromised by men gaining entry to the secretly-located premises. Abusive partners, or new or present ones, were not allowed in refuges for security reasons. But, where there were no workers on site, some women might let in their present or former boyfriends, or more rarely their abuser(s), and even have them staying overnight, which might traumatise others. To make it worse, two interviewees recalled how some of these men could be belligerent to other residents. In one refuge mentioned (and commonly), women who admitted their partners or other men would be asked to leave. To be clear, this was not a matter of anti-men ideology. At the same refuge, someone let a man (who was friendly and seemingly non-aggressive) in through the front door. He then killed his ex-partner in the hall in front of their children.