In the US, about 10 million people are physically abused each year.
50% of CASA Shelter residents are children.
Domestic violence is used for one purpose: to gain and maintain control.
Through acts of verbal humiliation, intimidation, isolation, stalking, and physical harm, one person can systematically control another. For survivors, abuse is a dangerous game with impossible rules. Perpetrators of domestic violence often manipulate current or former intimate partners or other family members through learned behaviors. Verbal, physical, sexual, financial, or emotional – domestic violence isn’t always a singular action; often it’s a series of exploitative tactics that force survivors to act in undesirable ways or prevent them from doing what they want.
Warning Signs
DOES YOUR PARTNER CONTROL YOU BY CAUSING OR THREATENING TO
- Monitor your calls, texts, or mail?
- Keep you from friends or family?
- “Out” you or belittle your identity?
- Harm you, your loved ones or pets?
- Harm themselves?
- Humiliate you in front of others?
- Prevent you from seeking medical treatment?
- Force you to do something sexual that you don’t want to do?
- Break your things?
- Take your money, control how you spend it or prevent you from working?
- Place blame on you for their harmful behavior?
