Ok, I really shouldn't play devils advocate with this one but well I'm an idiot.

Imagine your incharge of a country where beating your wife senseless is an acceptable norm.

You are not going to stop it by making it illegal, the police all beat their wife's and the country is way to uneducated to get it and will probably just kick you out of power and pick someone far happier to allow the situation to continue.

What you can do is try to effect slow change and reduce the damage currently being done.

This 'guide' uses violent behaviour as a last resort as apposed to the first and attempts to reduce what would be a hard physical beating to more of a metaphorical almost symbolic beating.

Anyway, I think that was the point of this.