 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
What is Domestic Violence?
Domestic violence is an escalating pattern of abuse where one partner in an intimate relationship controls the other through force, intimidation, or the threat of violence. Abuse comes in many forms:
- Physical: Kicking, punching, shoving, slapping, pushing, and any other acts that hurt your body.
- Sexual: Calling you vulgar names, criticizing your body parts or sensuality, forced or pressured sexual acts, including rape.
- Emotional: Assaults against your self-esteem.
- Verbal: Name-calling, threats, put-downs.
- Psychological: Causing you to feel as if you are "going crazy".
- Spiritual: Attacking your spiritual or religious beliefs.
- Financial: Controlling and manipulating you by threatening your economic status and basic needs.
- Homophobic: Threatening to "out" you to people who do not know your sexual orientation.
- Immigration: Using your immigration status and fear of deportation to control you.
- Destructive Acts: Actual or threatened assault
What Is Sexual Abuse?
|
Sexual abuse is any non-consenting sexual act or behavior.
|
|
Examples include your partner forcing sexual activity when: |
|
- you indicate "no" and your limits are not respected |
|
- you are sleeping |
|
- you are drunk or high and are unable to say "no" |
|
- you are afraid to say "no" |
|
|
|
or when your partner: |
|
- insists that you dress in a more sexual way than you wish
to dress |
|
- makes demeaning remarks about how you dress - makes
demeaning remarks about your body and/or body parts |
|
- minimizes your feelings about sex |
|
- berates you about your sexual history; blames you if you
were sexually abused in the past or as a child |
|
- criticizes you sexually (calling you "frigid," for example) |
|
- insists on touching you sexually when you do not want to be
touched, either when the two of you are alone or in the
presence of others |
|
- calls you a whore or a slut |
|
- has affairs with other women (often flaunting them) after
agreeing not to have sex with anyone but you |
|
- physically attacking sexual parts of your body, (grabbing
your breast, pinching your buttocks, any touch that is
unwanted) |
|
- forcing you to perform any specific sexual act that you do
not wish to do (for example: oral sex, or acting out
pornography)
|
STATISTICS |
|
|
- Every minute in the United States, there are 1.3 forcible rapes of adult women; 78 women are forcible raped each hour. Everyday 1,871 women are forcibly raped, equating to 56,916 forcible rapes each month. National Victim Center and Crime Research Center
- Ninety percent of all rapes are planned. In 87% of the cases the assailant either carried a weapon or threatened the victim with death if she resisted.
- Women aged 16-24 are 3 times more likely to be raped than other women.
- Over 70% of all rapes involved a person the victim knew.
- Up to 84% of rape cases go unreported.
- 88% of reported rapes do not result in incarceration of the attacker. Over 54% of all rape prosecutions result in either dismissal or an acquittal.
- As a result, 98% or rape victims will never see their attacker caught, tried and imprisoned.
- Nearly one-third of the women in America have reported being physically or sexually abused at some point in their lives.
- According to a report done by the National Violence Against Women Survey found that 10.8% ofwomen (sexual assault) victims and 23.3% of the male victims were assaulted by a female.
- Domestic Abuse
- Approximately 95% of victims of domestic abuse are women.
- Domestic violence leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States; more than car accidents, mugging, and rapes combined.
- About 1 out of 4 women are likely to be abused by a partner in her lifetime.
- Women of all cultures, races, occupations, income levels and ages are battered by husbands, lovers, or boyfriends.
- Fifty percent of homeless women and children in this country are fleeing domestic violence.
For more statistics, visit www.ncadv.org
Its time to take action and, "STAND UP SPEAK OUT", and help stem this epidemic.
| | |
|
| |
