About Domestic Violence – The Pixel Project

What is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence – also known as intimate partner violence (IPV) or family violence – is one of the most common and pervasive forms of violence against women (VAW). Domestic violence experienced by women and girls takes the form of physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, verbal, and financial abuse enacted through violent and controlling behaviours by a (typically) male intimate partner or family member. [1]

According to the United Nations, “home is the most likely place for a woman to be killed.”[2]

Some hard facts about domestic violence:

An average of 137 women across the world are killed by a partner or family member per day.
Of the 87,000 women killed worldwide in 2017 – 50,000 were killed by an intimate partner and another 20,000 were killed by a family member.
At a rate of 3.1 deaths per 100,000 people, Africa was where women ran the greatest risk of being killed by their intimate partner or family member.
With a total of 20,000, Asia had the greatest number of women killed by intimate partners or family members in 2017.
769 million women worldwide face domestic violence at some point in their lives which in turn costs approximately 9.5 trillion dollars in economic loss, according to a study by the Copenhagen Consensus Centre. [3]
Marriage laws expressly allow marital rape in 10 countries including Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lesotho, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. [4]

Signs of an abusive partner or spouse

Some early warning signs or red flags that your partner could be abusive include (but are not limited to)[5]:

Has a history of abusive behaviour in prior relationships and cruelty towards others
Lack of respect for your feelings and boundaries
Lack of trust in you
Extreme jealousy
Exercising subtle control such as strongly encouraging you to dress the way he prefers you to dress
Coercive behavior – pressuring you into actions and situations that make you uncomfortable
Isolating you from family and friends
Building you up, then breaking you down and repeating this cycle
Threatening violence
Gaslighting [6]

Types of Domestic Violence

The ultimate aim of the perpetrator is to control the victim and abusive behaviour takes many forms that include but is not limited to:

Physical abuse

Physical abuse is the image that comes to mind whenever we think of domestic violence. Physical abuse describes many different types of physical violence, assault and harm. Victims of physical abuse may not show their scars or wounds easily, as their abuser targets areas that are not easily seen.

Forms of physical abuse include (but are not limited to):

Physical assault: beating, biting, bruising, hitting, kicking, pinching, poking, punching, pulling hair, pushing, scratching, shoving, slapping, twisting or breaking limbs.
Physical control: binding limbs, imprisonment, deliberate dehydration, deliberate starvation, force feeding, sleep deprivation.
Assault with weapons (including guns, tools, water, and fire): burning, drowning, scalding, setting alight, shooting, stabbing, torture, whipping.
Femicide: drowning, murder (attempted or completed), smothering, strangling.

Emotional, verbal and psychological abuse

This form of abuse is largely invisible as it leaves no visible physical marks but can be more damaging than physical abuse. It may result in victims/survivors who:

Suffer from low self-esteem, believing they are useless and unworthy of love, respect and dignity.
Suffer from depression and truly believe they deserve all the abuse they receive. In some cases, they may even believe that they are less than human.
Suffer from Stockholm Syndrome and/or is not psychologically able to leave her abuser.

Forms of psychological, emotional, and verbal abuse include (but are not limited to):

Belittling the victim’s character, talents, and abilities
Insulting and humiliating the victim publicly and privately
Screaming, bellowing, and/or damaging property with the intent to intimidate
Gaslighting
Giving the victim the silent treatment to punish them
Guilt-tripping the victim
Interrogating the victim about their day and whereabouts
Stalking the victim using smartphone apps and other technologies

Financial or Economic abuse

Financial/economic abuse is when the abuser forces their spouses/partners to give up their jobs and become dependent on them. Financial abuse does not happen in isolation. This abuse is usually coupled with other forms of abuse to keep the victim firmly under the control of the abuser.

This form of economic control and coercion includes (but is not limited to):

Giving their victim allowances which they will need to give a strict account for.
Denying their victim money needed to buy food and other essentials.
Stealing their victim’s money by taking cash from their purse or emptying their bank account.
Demanding access to their victim’s bank account.
Demanding that the victim opens a joint bank account with him and have her earnings deposited in that account.
Sabotaging the victim at work by constantly calling their victim at work, keeping their victim from reporting to work, or damaging their victim’s work projects.

Sexual abuse

There are 2 common types of sexual abuse in domestic violence cases depending on the relations between the abuser and victim:

Type 1 – Marital Rape [7]

Marital rape is when a husband or male partner coerces his wife/spouse into sex or sexual acts without her consent. This is usually done in order to:

Reinforce power, dominance, and control
Express anger
Retaliate against any behaviour that he disapproves of

The abuser facilitate marital rape using a range of methods including:

Threats of harm/violence towards her or their dependents (children, elderly relatives, pets)
Physical force including restraining her limbs and movements
Verbal intimidation including bellowing and screaming
Using rape together with beating to exert maximum injury and terror

Type 2 – Incest and Child Sexual Abuse [8]

Incest is defined as sexual relations between family members. In terms of gender-based violence, incest can occur in the following forms:

Older male family members such as grandfathers, fathers, step-fathers, uncles raping or sexually assaulting younger female family members under their care and authority.
Peer to peer incest whereby brothers and cousins raping or sexually assault female family members.

Girls and women who experience incest may:

Be unable to trust anyone, as the person they trusted to look after them betrayed them.
Engage in high-risk behaviour, such as dangerous sexual activities, drinking, taking drugs, etc.
Have low self-esteem and confidence.
Suffer feelings of abandonment, extreme embarrassment, and isolation.

Footnotes and Further Reading