A good question that I have some experience with.
I am not married and dont plan to...but I am attracted to a certain kind of women...yes i admit that sexy, kinky, outgoing, high maintanance chicks appeal to me... i like the game, i like the chase, and the funis usually very good...
unfortunately there is a ton of baggage and issues that come with this choice in women... im a good example of a person who likes the excitement but doesnt want to settle for the quiet little wall flower girl... and settle down, etc. snooze..
Ive had quiet nice girlfriends before, and i get bored after awhile...
so i suppose my answer is that i have a character-flaw of my own in my preference for romance to be fast, fun, free and exciting.... and this somehow fulfills some void that I have in my own personality etc. but there are drawbacks to this, namely flamouts....which i have accepted and now try to avoid getting in to. Now I just focus on trying to at least
get a woman who has some character as well, so it wont all come totally down to sh-t in the end.
Maybe i will get with a nice girl in the end...but the problem is that i dont look for them naturally.
As for women who go with guys who beat them... i have no idea why other than to speculate that they have very low self esteems, and their getting beaten and abused helps them to "accept" their own identity as being low self worth.