Domestic Violence

What is domestic violence?

Domestic violence and emotional abuse are behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other. Domestic violence sees no color, age, sex, race, culture, religion, education, employment or marital status. Violence can be criminal and includes physical assault (hitting, pushing, shoving, etc.), sexual abuse, and stalking. Also emotional, psychological and financial abuse are included even though they are not criminal behaviors. The violence can take many forms and can happen all at once or only once in a while. A current trend has been the abusers and abuses are getting younger and younger. Dating violence is now a huge problem in high school and even middle schools.

If you are being abused please remember:
     1. You are not alone.
     2. It is not your fault.
     3. Help is available.

One of the most common myths are that "if is were that bad, wouldn't she just leave." Not leaving does not mean that the situation is okay or that the victim wants to be abused. Leaving can be dangerous. The most dangerous time for a women who is being a abused is when she tries to leave (United States Department of Justice, National Crime Victim Survey, 1995).

Another common thought is "why doesn't she just leave," but the question should be "why does he abuse her." As a society we seem to put blame on the victim and not the abuser.
Statistics:

• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men in the United States are victims of domestic violence at some point in their lives (CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey 2005).
• An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year (Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States).
• Most cases of domestic violence are never reported to the police (Frieze, L.H and Browne A.,1989).
• 1 out of 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her life (Silverman, J.G; Raj, A and Clements K).
• 1 in 5 female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner(The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2001).
• 1 in 3 teens report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, slapped, choked or physically hurt by his/her partner (Liz Claiborne Inc. Teen Relationship Abuse Survey 2006).
• Domestic Violence is the #1 cause of injury to women - more than auto and household accidents, cancer and muggings combined.
• The FBI estimates that 1,500 women in the U.S. are murdered each year by their male partner.
• In the U.S., a women is battered every 15 seconds.
• 1 in 4 Texans is a victim or knows a victim of family violence.

Remember that domestic violence should not happen to anybody. Ever. Period. Domestic violence is everybody's business! So please join me in supporting Domestic Violence Awareness.

For more information about Domestic Violence please check out the following websites:
The Family Place
Hopes Door
National Domestic Violence Hotline
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Love Is Not Abuse
Texas Council on Family Violence