What is Domestic abuse?
What is domestic abuse?
Domestic violence can take many forms. Domestic violence can affect anyone from any background and any identity. Domestic violence can include psychological, sexual, economic, emotional or physical abuse, coercive or controlling behavior, so-called honor-based violence or forced marriage.
Sometimes it can be hard to recognize abuse when you are living through it. These questions may help you identify whether you are experiencing domestic violence.
Does your current or former partner and/or family member:
Call you names, humiliate, criticize, or belittle you?
Threaten to harm you or others around you, including pets?
Control you financially?
Use physical violence against you?
Stalk or harass you, including online or via phone?
Limit or control your movement or monitor your whereabouts and communication with others, including contact with friends, family, community, education or work?
Accuse you of cheating on them or act excessively jealous?
Use substances to control or harm you, or blame their alcohol or drug use for their abusive behavior?
Damage or withhold your belongings?
Use your race, ethnicity, immigration status or disability against you?
Pressure or force you into marriage without your consent?
Try to minimize their behavior or blame you for their behavior?
Threaten to harm themselves if you leave or seek help?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be experiencing domestic abuse. You do not have to face what’s happening alone.
Domestic abuse can include, but is not limited to, the following:
Physical abuse
Psychological and/or emotional abuse
Coercive control
Financial and economic abuse
Sexual abuse
Tech abuse
Harassment and stalking
If something doesn’t feel right in your relationship, it probably isn’t.
An abuser may say things like ‘I didn’t mean it’, ‘I was having a bad day’, ‘It only happened once’ in order to justify or excuse their hurtful behavior. This might make you start doubting whether your concerns about your relationship are valid. If you’ve heard of any of these before, it could be a sign of an unhealthy or controlling relationship.
Another sign of an abusive relationship can be if your behavior has changed because of how your partner treats you or your children. Perpetrators often create justifications for their actions, which they use to place blame on survivors and to take away any responsibility from themselves.