What is Domestic Violence and Abuse?
Domestic abuse involves a pattern of harmful behavior used by one person to control and dominate another systematically. It can manifest in various forms across different relationships, even though the underlying cause may be similar. Below is a list of the most common types of domestic violence. If you recognize any of these signs in your relationship or someone else's, we urge you to contact PADV for assistance with safety planning. No one deserves to be abused, and victims are not responsible for the abuser's actions.
Economic Abuse
Economic abuse involves deliberately controlling resources to restrict the victim's financial independence. This can include:
● Refusing to provide money for essential needs
● Making you request money instead of granting continuous access
● Forcing you to surrender your earnings or spend them against your wishes
● Withholding support for your children
● Excluding you from financial decisions that affect you and/or your children
● Hindering your opportunities for education, job training, or employment
● Disrupting your work through harassment, such as frequent calls or unannounced visits
● Stealing from you, defrauding your money or assets, or exploiting your financial resources or property
● Forcing you to use your credit in ways you do not agree w
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse involves the intentional use of physical force with the potential to cause death, disability, injury, or harm. It can include, but is not limited to:
● Pushing, hitting, choking, kicking, biting, cutting, burning, spitting, shaking, slapping, pinching, or force-feeding
● Restraining you or blocking your exit from a room
● Throwing objects at you
● Threatening you with a weapon
● Locking you in or out of the house
● Leaving you in dangerous places
● Depriving you of sleep or waking you abruptly
● Denying assistance when you are sick, injured, or pregnant
● Putting you at risk by driving recklessly
Psychological Abuse
Psychological abuse involves using verbal and non-verbal communication to intentionally harm someone mentally or emotionally, and/or to exert control over them. It can include:
● Expressive Aggression
○ Using derogatory language or insults
○ Belittling you by calling you names such as "stupid," "dumb," "fat," "ugly," etc.
○ Intentionally humiliating you
○ Mocking your beliefs
○ Demeaning women as a whole
○ Continuously criticizing you
○ Threatening to take away your children
○ Threatening sexual assault
○ Threatening harm to your family
○ Threatening to leave or force you to leave
○ Ridiculing your friends and family
○ Harming your pets to upset you
○ Harming your children to upset you
○ Disregarding your emotions
● Coercive Control
○ Restricting your access to transportation, finances, friends, and family
○ Excessively monitoring your movements and whereabouts
○ Refusing to use birth control methods
○ Insisting on pregnancy termination
● Exploitation
○ Exploiting your vulnerabilities, such as undocumented immigration status, disability, etc.
● Manipulation
○ Distorting information to make you question your memory or perception
○ Providing false information to mislead others about you
Sexual Abuse
Sexual violence refers to any form of sexual contact without consent. This can encompass a range of acts, whether attempted or fully carried out. These acts are also considered sexual abuse if the victim is not fully conscious due to voluntary or involuntary intoxication or drugging.
● Unwanted Penetration
○ Coercing you into unwanted sexual intercourse, whether with your partner or someone outside the relationship
○ Demanding sex after an argument or physical altercation
○ Pressuring you into sex while pregnant or ill
● Unwanted Sexual Experiences (with or without contact)
○ Exposure to sexual situations against your wishes, such as pornography
○ Sexual harassment through verbal or behavioral means
○ Threatening sexual violence to achieve other goals
○ Unauthorized filming or photography
○ Sharing sexually explicit videos or photos of another person
○ Critiquing your behavior during sexual activity
○ Withholding affection or sex
○ Using financial support as leverage for sexual favors
○ Using derogatory language after sexual activity
○ Accusations of infidelity
○ Boasting about sexual encounters with others
○ Monitoring your clothing for signs of sexual activity
○ Insisting on unwanted or uncomfortable physical contact
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