Partner abuse is a recurring and chronic pattern of behaviors where one person tries to control the thoughts, beliefs, and/or actions of their partner, someone they are dating or someone they had an intimate relationship with.
Partner abuse is also called domestic violence, battering, intimate partner abuse, and/or dating violence.
Those who abuse may use a number of behaviors to control their partner including:
- Emotional Abuse: verbal abuse, lying, undermining self esteem, humiliation, monitoring whereabouts, threats, and/or intimidation.
- Physical Abuse: pushing, hitting, punching, choking, withholding medications or hormones, sleep deprivation.
- Sexual Abuse: rape, forcing sex and/or sex with others, exposure to HIV or sexually transmitted infections.
- Economic Abuse: controlling money & resources, forcing to live above means, stealing, identity theft.
- Cultural/Identity Abuse: threat of outing partner’s sexual orientation, gender identity, SM, polyamory, HIV status, or any other personal information. Using partner’s race, class, age, immigration status, religion, size, physical ability, language, and/or ethnicity, against them.
Partner abuse happens in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, polyamorous, SM/kink and straight communities. It crosses all social, ethnic, racial, age, and economic lines. An individual’s size, strength, politics, gender presentation, or personality does not determine whether s/he can be abused or an abuser.
No one has the right to abuse and no one deserves to be abused.
Source/For more information: The Network/La Red