Domestic Violence Information

WHAT IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?

According to the Department of Justice, domestic violence is “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone” (http://www.justice.gov/ovw/domestic-violence).

FACTS ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence:

There are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide (http://ncadv.org/learn-more/statistics).
Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crimes (http://ncadv.org/learn-more/statistics).
Domestic victimization is correlated with a higher rate of depression and suicidal behavior (http://ncadv.org/learn-more/statistics).
1 in every 15 children is exposed to intimate partner violence each year (http://ncadv.org/learn-more/statistics).
10 million Americans are annually victims of physical violence (https://ncadv.org/files/Domestic%20Violence%20and%20Physical%20Abuse%20NCADV.pdf).
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner (http://ncadv.org/learn-more/statistics).

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DEBATE

Through discriminatory practices, underserved victims of abuse are denied services that are capable of helping them in domestic violent situations. Many advocates against domestic violence believe that women are the only group affected by domestic violence, which is why many studies focus on males as perpetrators alone. Therefore, their theory is that men abuse women to maintain patriarchal power in relationships, therefore focusing on anything other than heterosexual women as perpetrators. To their surprise, both men and women are affected by domestic violence—this includes gay men, lesbian women, and transgender men/women.

Stop Abuse For Everyone aims to ensure that every victim of domestic violence has access to services that can help them in their situations. For example, gay men and lesbian women experience discrimination when seeking help from other shelters. SAFE believes that we should never underestimate the importance of violence against women and we should look at the big picture of violence in relationships.

Inevitably, both groups clash over statistics. Abused women’s advocates believe that women are injured at much higher rates and criticize the ways that studies have been conducted. Unfortunately, statistics are inaccurate due to the many people that do not come forward to authorities. Therefore, they are left out in the numbers and statistics that pertain to domestic violence amongst men and women.

SAFE’s mission is to look into the severity of the circumstances that victims are in rather than the victims themselves. SAFE believes that the same criteria should be used to evaluate all victims/survivors of domestic violence. Why does that matter to you if you’re looking for help? Help is hard to come by if you’re not a “traditional victim” of domestic violence. Fortunately, SAFE is here to help.

MORE INFO ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Essays on Domestic Violence – contains essays on a variety of topics, including stalking, abused men, sibling violence, and more.
Books on Domestic Violence – books on abused men, same-sex violence, and more.
Websites on Domestic Violence – sites that deal with abused women, abused men, and same-sex victims.
Research on Domestic Violence – research on abused women, abused men, same-sex victims, teen dating violence, and all forms of domestic violence.
Domestic Violence Resources – fliers, brochures, and other materials on domestic violence.