Marie O'S said:
I have grown up in a community that believes in this kind of thing, so I felt it was what a wife had to go through to show she loved her husband. Thankfully God led me to a man who loved me enough that he couldn't do such things, and he stood up against our parents' culture and said this was not how things would be. It's abuse and unGodly to humiliate and hurt the person that the Lord charges you with caring for.
It seems to be more a cultural than a religious issue. In the Christian faith in regards to submission, some Christians believe in submitting mutually, and some believe in a chain of command style of submission - God, Husband, Wife and Children. But no where does it say that husbands are to physically chastise wives if they don't obey - children, yes, but not the wives.
But what is the origin of the cross-cultural trend of physical abuse? Women are not natural enemies of men and are physically not as strong. Yet, throughout other cultures, including ours, they have been seen as inferior, not worthy, dishonest, untruthful, and lust-provoking. In the Bible, the Apostle Paul's letters about women are often held up as an example sexism in the faith, that promotes that because of woman's original sin as Eve, then she is to be subject to her husband, must be silent, cannot teach. Thomas Aquinas also railed about women, sin, lust and their vanity. But keep in mind that the thinking at the time was fairly typical, and stemmed from earlier Roman and Greek attitudes towards women as well.
I opine that Domestic Discipline, or even strict non-physical discipline in marriage roles is abusive. The issue of physical abuse has raised its ugly head even in the conservative Christian church body - they acknowledge that within some marriage that practice a strict male headship/female submission arrangement, that the man misinterprets his role and becomes dominating and abusive:
http://www.cbmw.org/resources/articles/abuse_statement.php
This link is from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. I don't agree with their interpretation and philosophy, but if they acknowledge something's wrong, then you know something's not right.