Domestic abuse affects millions of people every year. These people can be both men and women, although statistics show that over eighty percent of the time, it’s women. They can be involved in different relationships including traditional marriages, same-sex partnerships, and even kindred relationships where no sexual intimacy takes place.
In the UK, the government defines domestic abuse as “Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence, or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.
𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗬𝗣𝗘𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗘
While physical violence is the most obvious form of this kind of abuse, both the government and all agencies and charities seeking to help victims of abuse, agree that it can also involve (and not be limited to) psychological, emotional, sexual, and economic abuse.
𝗣𝗛𝗬𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗘
Physical abuse involves contact intended to cause pain, injury or other physical suffering or bodily harm.
1 in 59 Women aged between 15 and 49 has experienced physical violence since age 15.
14.4% of married Women have experienced physical abuse from their husbands.
37% of separated or widowed Women have experienced physical violence.
𝗣𝗦𝗬𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗘
Psychological abuse is characterised by behaviours or threats that may result in psychological trauma, including fear, anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder.
The abuse can include:
• Humiliation.
• Controlling what the victim can and cannot do.
• Monitoring the victim’s every move.
• Withholding information.
• Diminishing or embarrassing the victim.
• Isolating the victim from friends and family.
• Abusing the victim’s pets or damaging their property.
• Spiritual abuse, which involves misusing spiritual or religious beliefs in order to manipulate or control another’s behaviour.
𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗘
Emotional abuse involves undermining a person's sense of self-respect or self-worth. Like psychological abuse, it can have a massive impact on a victim’s confidence and self-esteem. It includes consistently criticising, insulting, accusing, mocking, belittling, and blaming the victim for how the abuser acts or feels.
𝗦𝗘𝗫𝗨𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗘
Sexual abuse is the violation or exploitation of an individual’s bodily integrity. It covers all sorts of sexual contact and behaviour that is unwanted, ranging from touching to any other activity if it is sexual.
Therefore, it not only includes rape and sexual assault, but it also includes acts that sexually humiliate a person such as exposing a partner's body to friends, forcing a partner into posing for pornography, secretly videotaping a partner while engaging in sex, or forcing a partner to have sex without using protection.
Another form of domestic sexual abuse is sexually assaulting someone who is unable to refuse due to disability, illness, intimidation or the influence of alcohol or other drugs.
𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗘
Financial abuse is an aspect of ‘coercive control’ – a pattern of controlling, threatening and degrading behaviour that restricts a victims’ freedom.
It’s important to understand that financial abuse seldom happens in isolation: in most cases perpetrators use other abusive behaviours to threaten and reinforce the financial abuse.
Financial abuse involves a perpetrator using or misusing money which limits and controls their partner’s current and future actions and their freedom of choice. It can include using credit cards without permission, putting contractual obligations in their partner’s name, and gambling with family assets.
Financial abuse can leave women with no money for basic essentials such as food and clothing. It can leave them without access to their own bank accounts, with no access to any independent income and with debts that have been built up by abusive partners set against their names. Even when a survivor has left the home, financial control can still be exerted by the abuser with regard to child maintenance.
Sadly the vast majority of survivors experience financial abuse at some point.
𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗖 𝗔𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗘
Economic abuse and financial abuse involve similar behaviours, However, it can be helpful to think of financial abuse as a subcategory of economic abuse. (nothing to do with semantics before anyone says).
Economic abuse encompasses the many ways that an abuser may control someone’s economic situation, including employment and housing, for example.
Economic abuse is wider in its definition than ‘financial abuse’, as it can also include restricting access to essential resources such as food, clothing or transport, technology (which allows us to work and stay connected), as well as property and daily essentials like food and clothing. It can include destroying items and refusing to contribute to household costs, also denying the means to improve a person’s economic status (for example, through employment, education or training).
This type of abuse is a form of coercive and controlling behaviour. It can continue long after a leaving and can have lifelong effects.
DJN
Fendo UK