I've had a line from one of James Fenton's poems kicking around in my head for ages now: Every victim is an accomplice. It's such a chilling thought - that in a way we collude in our own misfortunes, and I am sure that some who have been subject to domestic violence might take issue with what Fenton is saying.
However, in creative writing terms, I think it has mileage. It is an intriguing and unsettling notion, and if your reader is intrigued and unsettled, then they are engaging intensely with what you are writing. If it makes them (and you) look at something in a different way, then in a sense your work as an author is done. I'm not suggesting that you should be controversial for controversy's sake, as you would end up telling a story that is merely gratuitous, but what I am saying is that you shouldn't be afraid of dark and tricky themes, as working at the outer reaches of your comfort zone is probably where you will write best.
As if to prove this point, Deborah Harvey, in her new collection of poems Communion, (from the sequence Iago) sums up the whole difficult dynamic...
I shall dismantle you and smile
You will not notice how.
I’ll only hurt you
as much as you allow.
Perhaps it could be another writing door for you to open?
