Facts About Domestic Violence:

1. The US Department of Justice estimates that 95% of reported assaults on spouses or e-spouses are committed by men against women. (Douglas 1991).
2. Domestic Violence accounts for approximately 35% of all emergency room visits by women with injuries. (Randall T. Journal of the AMA 'Domestic Violence Calls For More Than Treating Injuries' 1992).
3. Domestic Violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States. It's more common than automobile accidents, muggings and rapes combined. (Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1991).
4. Women of all cultures, races, occupations, income levels, and ages are battered - by husbands, boyfriends, lovers and partners. (Surgeon General Antonia Novello, as quoted in Domestic Violence: Battered Women, publication of the Reference Department of the Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, MA).
5. Batterers can be successful professionals such as doctors, lawyers, corporate executives, salesmen, and teachers as well as skilled and unskilled laborers. (Based on Lenore Walkers theories explained in the book, The Battered Women, 1979).
6. A batterer's control of the family's money can stop victims from ending the relationship or make the money situation harder for the woman if she leaves. (Peter Jaffe, David Wolfe & Susan Kaye Wilson. Children of Battered Women, 1990).
7. There are three times as many animal shelters in the United States than there are shelters for battered women. (Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings. 1990).
8. Injuries battered women receive are at least as serious as injuries suffered in 90% of violent felony crimes, yet under state laws, they are almost always classified as misdemeanors. (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence).

Are You Being Abused?

Physical Abuse:

Does your partner:

• Hit, slap, punch, shove, bite, cut, strangle, kick, or burn you? Spit on you?
• Throw objects at you or restrain you?
• Threaten or hurt you with an object or deadly weapon (a gun, knife, baseball bat, brick, chain, hammer, scissors, rope, belt buckle, extension cord, branch, bottle, acid, bleach or scalding water)?
• Abandon you or lock you out of the house?
• Neglect you when you are sick or pregnant?
• Endanger you or your children through reckless driving?
• Threaten or attempt to drown you?

Emotional Abuse:

Does your partner constantly say or do things that shame, embarrass, ridicule or insult you? Has he said:

• You're stupid, filthy, lazy, nasty, silly, etc.
• You're fat and ugly.
• You can't do anything right.
• You'll never get a job.
• You're an unfit mother.
• Who'd want you?

Does he:

• Withhold affection to punish you?
• Threaten to hurt you or your children?
• Tell you about his affairs or accuse you of having affairs?
• Forbid you to make decisions or socialize with your friends?
• Manipulate you with lies, contradictions or promises?

Financial Abuse:

Does your partner:

• Forbid you to work or handle your own money?
• Force you to sign over property or give him your personal possessions?
• Refuse to provide economically for you?

Sexual Abuse:

Does your partner:

• Force you to have sex when you don't want to or while sleeping?
• Force you to perform sexual acts you don't like?
• Criticize your sexual performance?
• Deny you sex?
• Not inform you of a Sexually Transmitted Disease he/she might have?
• Force you to have sex with or to watch others?
• Commit sexual acts that you consider sadistic?

Destructive Acts:

Does Your Partner:

• Break furniture, flood rooms, ransack or dump garbage in your house?
• Slash tires, break windows, steal, tamper with parts or put foreign substances in the gas tank of your car?
• Kill pets to punish or frighten you?
• Destroy clothing, jewelry, family photos or other personal items that he knows are important to you?

- There is no excuse and no acceptable reason for your partner to ever be physically abusive to you.

- You do not deserve to be emotionally abused. You have a right to a considerate and caring relationship.

- You don't have to submit to sexual acts you don't like. You deserve warm and nurturing sexual experiences.

- You do not deserve, nor do you have to be the victim of destructive acts by your partner.

For more information or help with this issue CALL The Women’s Center Counseling Services 242-1526 or 242-3110 ext 328.