Just like with women.

There’s a psychological roadmap to breaking someone down where they will accept abuse. It happens over time. It’s not always done by one person; lots of times the person who starts the hitting has just picked up and carried on where a lesser abuser left off. It’s a road not a switch.

This is the way power works. Women don’t stay with abusive men because they are inherently weaker, or because they naturally have less self esteem. That’s the kind of rational from an abuser mentality.

Same here, with men. You stay because someone, some group, some institution, some religion, or some culture has convinced you that you deserve it, it’s your fault, it’s natural, this is as good as it gets, and you should be grateful that they put up with you.

What you’ve described is the exact same dynamic.