Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

I'm going to continue analyzing Marina's testimony, but at the moment, I want to comment on the repeated use of the word "beat" and "beatings".  A beating. That is a very strong word, meaning, it's at the extreme of physical violence.

For instance, I would refrain from calling a single slap a beating. A slap is a slap. And it's not that I think that slaps are OK. If a man ever slapped a woman in my presence, I would take it to him- immediately and fiercely.  

But, words have specific meanings. A "beating" implies repeated blows. Let's go to the dictionary:

beating: a punishment or assault in which the victim is hit repeatedly:


beating: an act of striking with repeated blows so as to injure or damage


beating: to strike violently,  forcefully, and repeatedly

That last definition is the one I like best: to strike violently, forcefully, and repeatedly. That's a beating. 

And they're saying Oswald did that to Marina? 

Another thing is that beating often implies hitting someone with a weapon, such as a stick, a rod, or a belt. But, it isn't absolutely necessary.  But, a beating always has the connotation of extreme cruelty and severity.   

A beating is, by definition, merciless. It is extended. It is protracted. It continues despite the painful cries and anguish of the person being beat. 

It's stressful to even talk about this, but it needs to be looked at in order to consider whether Oswald "beat" Marina. 

If we start at the beginning of how violence towards women gets manifested, I would say it starts with physical domination, where the man grabs the woman and either holds her roughly and forcibly or forces her someplace, where he is pushing her, pulling her, twisting her arm- that kind of thing.   

As far as hitting a woman, I think the evidence shows that it's not typical for men to do it with a clenched fist. It usually involves slapping the woman rather than punching her. And that is opposite to how men fight each other. Between men, it's far more likely to be punching rather than slapping. 

But, the point is that beating a woman implies hitting her over and over again, with a lot of force, a lot of rage, a lot of cruelty, and a lot of determination to harm her. It's at the extreme. The only thing worse would be if he brought out a knife and started cutting her. Of course, his getting out a gun and shooting her would also be worse.

And because of that- the extremeness of beating- I find it strange that Rankin would broach the subject so glibly:

Mr. Rankin: Could you tell us a little about when he did beat you?

Rankin wanted to know "when," not what. I'd be more interested in the what, as in: "What did he do to you?"

Despite the severity involved in the term "beating", at no time did Rankin ever attempt to detail the brutal, violent acts Oswald allegedly committed against his wife, and at no time did she detail them either. Apparently, neither one of them wanted to talk about it.