Smart Women, Dangerous Choices

Some women are attracted to bad boys.  They may be alcoholics, married men, or men with an attitude like Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar Named Desire, or James Dean in Rebel without a Cause.  The worst type of bad boy is a convict or an ex-con and sad to say, there are many women who fall for these men.  Why is that?

It may be that a woman likes an element of danger in her relationship.  Some women like the idea of taming the beast.  They choose a man who’s rough and tough, or brags about his infidelities because they believe that they are going to be the one woman who will make a difference in his life. They will be the one who will make him faithful. They will be the one who gets him sober.  They will be the one to change him.

That kind of thinking can be very dangerous. An acquaintance of mine fell in love with a prisoner.  She was a member of my David Milgaard support group.  While the rest of us were working to free David Milgaard, a man who had been wrongly convicted of murder, my friend, Louise Ellis, worked tirelessly to get a guilty man out of prison. 

Louise met Brett Morgan at Milgaard's Supreme Court hearing in 1992.  Morgan was a "jailhouse snitch" he claimed that he shared a cell with a man who confessed to killing a woman that someone else was doing the time for. Louise admired Brett for coming forward.  His motives seemed altruistic at the time, so she introduced herself to him after the hearing. They exchanged addresses and began a correspondence, which culminated in a passionate affair.

Brett was in jail for killing a woman in Edmonton.  He had been charged with manslaughter and only served eight years out of his 10 year sentence, thanks to Louise spending her hard-earned money to get him the best lawyers in town.  How did he repay her?  Brett went to live with Louise when he was released from prison. Nine months later, she went missing.  I was part of a search team that went looking for her.  Her remains were discovered in Wakefield, Québec three months following her disappearance.  Morgan had strangled her after she told him that she wanted to leave him.  He was convicted of first-degree murder, but he never served out his term because he died of hepatitis C in prison.

Was Louise Ellis a fool to have taken a chance on Brett Morgan?  Some people think so but I disagree.  Louise was a 46-year-old freelance journalist.  She was bright, pretty, spunky and spiritual.  She was a dynamic person and a social activist.  Louise gave Brett a second chance in life. She believed in him and he was convincing -- I know because I met him.  Louise wanted to save Brett.  She tried to play Florence Nightingale and it cost her her life.

In the past, women were often held responsible for their own misfortunes when they met violent ends.  If a woman was out alone at night, wearing a short skirt in a bad neighborhood, and she was attacked or raped, people would shrug and say, "She asked for it."  We now recognize that archaic attitude blames the victim.

What can we do about this tragedy without blaming the victim or judging these women for their actions? We can all encourage the women that we know and love to take a good hard look at the men that they’ve chosen as partners.  Do these men have a temper?  Have they ever struck a woman physically?  Are your female friends constantly choosing men who have glaring flaws, hoping and believing that they can change them?  No one changes another person.  The only time that anyone ever changes is if he or she decides to do that for their own reasons.

We all have daughters, sisters or colleagues who might benefit from our advice, even if they don't want to hear it at the time.  Women who are consistently attracted to the wrong men may need counseling. Or maybe they just need to know how valuable they really are, and that it’s not worth the risk to be involved with a bad boy.

If we manage to save one life by speaking up, it's worth it.  I'm sorry that I didn't voice my disapproval about Brett Morgan more emphatically to Louise Ellis.  Perhaps if I did, she might be here with us today.  By the time that she decided to leave him, it was already too late because that is precisely when certain men become dangerous.  Think of Nicole Brown Simpson.  Neither Nicole nor Louise realized that they needed police protection after they told their spouses goodbye.

On a larger scale, women's magazines and Hollywood movies need to recast their male heroes. There's nothing sexy or romantic about an ex-con or a tough guy. A goofy, kindhearted man like Ray Romano on Everyone Loves Raymond is a lot more attractive than Marlon Brando in Streetcar Named Desire. If we can get that message out globally, we could save some women and their families a lot of heartache.

Sigrid Macdonald is a longtime social activist.  She is an editor, book coach and the author of two books including D'Amour Road, which is dedicated to Louise Ellis.

Visit her at www.sigridmacdonald.blogspot.com

» left by Anonymous

5 years 272 days ago.

Yes it is helpful why is love so blind? Why can't women see what is in front of them instead of making excuses.

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» left by anthony mitchell 50 days 19 hours ago.

so many look past a person to see if they can help or change them i was told along time ago when you first meet a person they pull out all the stops they are so into you everything is perfect until after a while they change that same person goes on vacation and there never gonna be back to what they used to be.

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» left by anthony mitchell 50 days 19 hours ago.

i am very shocked to see this case on tv its very sad and makes me angry brett took advantage of a good woman. i just hope other women can learn from this my prayers go out to her family and friends.

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