Jeannie Middleton, of Lindenhurst, published “Why Women Stay When They Want to Go” — a fifty-page self-help book that could only be categorized as a “breeze” for the heartless, given the sensitive topic matter titularly implicit — on July 19, 2022.
“So many women are hurting and in bad relationships, and don’t even know how they got there while many women are too afraid or embarrassed to even admit the abuse they are taking from their partner,” Middleton, who wields both nursing and psychology degrees, and ample experience in both, told The South Shore Press. “If we can save just one person with my book, then it’s all worth it.”
The South Carolina-based Palmetto Publishing release of Middleton’s book came nearly a year after the remains of Gabby Petito, a Blue Point native, were found in Wyoming on September 19, 2021 — three years ago this past Thursday. This discovery signaled the unfortunate end to a national missing persons saga, her parents having reported her missing the previous week.
Petito’s death was ruled a homicide by strangulation. Boyfriend Brian Laundrie admitted to her killing in a notebook found amongst other personal items by the FBI when his body had turned up in the Florida Reserve a month later—the result of suicide.
Petito was just 22 years old.
Middleton regularly delivered to Petito’s house when the latter was a little girl; she was “the FedEx lady” who owned the Blue Point, Bay Port and Sayville area route. “I would see her playing outside. She was beautiful.”
“Why Women Stay When They Want to Go” centers not on Petito, rather the years of stories Middleton had collected prior and subsequently wrote both commentary and poems upon.
In this work, she recalls several personal friends of hers who all curiously stayed committed to abusive partners that essentially held them prisoner, leaving little to no room for escape. She attempts to reconcile exactly why and cannot help but find herself intervening in each individual case that, when stacked together, register as anything but unique.
Still, Middleton agrees the hyper-recent, sincerely tragic case of Petito serves as a modern example of a longtime problem that somehow has not gone away, despite the resources available to battered women. “Had Gabby realized—if only she spoke to someone about being abused—she would still be here,” said Middleton. “If only Gabby knew the signs.”
In communicating her self-help publication’s mission statement while contextualizing it within the framework of Petito’s loss—just one sad story massively told in a sea of others that unfortunately go unreported—Middleton adds:
“I want to prevent others like Gabby from dying at the hands of their abuser. When women are being abused, they become lost within themselves. They feel there’s no way out. They start to believe that no one else will love them, because the abuser makes them believe they are worthless—and no one will want them.”
“Why Women Stay When They Want to Go” is currently available for purchase on Amazon: Hardcover ($21.99), Paperback ($6.95), or Kindle ($5.99).
Middleton also welcomes direct messages to her email address: Mdjexpress@aol.com—for those in need, she is here to listen, and here to help, but is definitely not the only resource at your disposal. Not by a long shot.
Call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit thehotline.org if you are in an abusive domestic relationship or situation and are in need of urgent assistance.
“I say: All those women out there in an abusive relationship,” Middleton concludes, “stand tall and know you’re not alone. Don’t let abuse become your comfort zone.”