Anyone else get beaten with a wire coat-hanger as a child when 8, 9, or 10 years of age?

[Damon]

As a child of a very hostile, aggressive, and impatient single mother (who hates my biological father and has been divorced from him since I was one year of age), I was frequently beaten with a wire coat-hanger ( for "general principles" or for very little or no reason) while forced by Mother to bend over my bed with my pants pulled down to my ankles until I was screaming in pain and had many purple, black, blue, and red welts all over my butt and down both backs of my legs (thighs). My step-dad, who my very aggressive mom married when I was 10 heard me in my bedroom screaming in severe pain as this idiot was beating me for having eaten a can of tuna for lunch that day as it was the only thing in the house to eat and as was usually the case I'd been left home alone all day to fend for myself. My step-dad said to my mom, "Gretchen, you're going to kill him one of these days" and she did stop doing that once my step-dad intervened with concern for my safety. She's still very ignorant, selfish, domineering, controlling (a self-described "control freak") still very hostile toward me, still very sarcastic, condescending, rude, impatient, and self-centered. Many others who have met her concede that she is rude; the consensus is high that Gretchen is hostile. My cousin speculates that Gretch may have been raped as a child by her alcoholic step father. Although Gretchen never has been known to drink at all, her mom and step-dad were both alcoholics. Anyone else out there been harshly treated and severely beaten with a wire coat-hanger? If so, where does this method of child abuse originate from, i.e., where did Gretchen learn to use a wire coat hanger on a defenseless little boy's bare bottom after ordering said defenseless boy into his bedroom and then ordering this victim of his mother's aggression to "drop your drawers"? I still remember those exact words; it was always the same command before a very severe beating "Drop your drawers". Was this method of child abuse common to poor, ignorant, selfish, hateful, uneducated, young mothers from the Canton area of Ohio or just all over the U.S.? I'd like to add that the aforementioned mother is frequently confrontational with others. Once when asked by an officer if she knew how fast she was going after being pulled over her reply to the officer was a very hostile "I don't need any lecture from you. I do my job, so you just do yours; just write the god-damned ticket and let me go!" I was in the car and heard this myself thinking, "what a stupid bitch, she was probably going to get a warning before she started with the attitude." This is just one example of Gretchen's ignorance and attitude of arrogance. What would you do if you had a mom like this? I was thrown out of house at 18 and have strugled to get by doing menial jobs ever since (a janitor job here, lawn-mowing job there) and have been homeless, have dealt with alcoholism and related problems. I'm still just doing my best by staying sober and keeping any job I get especially in this time of our economy being in shambles. Thanks for any insight and advice. I'm sure karma has a way of dealing with things in the long run. Luckily I am currently employed, have 2 pretty good cars, and am able to rent a small house that I like.