Domestic Violence Awareness

Domestic Violence Awareness is part of Women's Self Defense and can take the form of physical violence, including direct physical violence ranging from unwanted physical contact to rape and murder. Indirect physical violence may include destruction of objects, striking or throwing objects near the victim, or harm to pets.

In addition to physical violence, spousal abuse often includes mental or emotional abuse, including verbal threats of physical violence to the victim, the self, or others including children, ranging from explicit, detailed and impending to implicit and vague as to both content and time frame, and verbal violence, including threats, insults, put-downs, and attacks.

Nonverbal threats are part of domestic violence awareness and may include gestures, facial expressions, and body postures. Psychological abuse may also involve economic and/or social control, such as controlling victim's money and other economic resources, preventing victim from seeing friends and relatives, actively sabotaging victim's social relationships and isolating victim from social contacts. Spiritual abuse is another form of abuse that may occur.

Sexual violence and incest are divided into three categories of domestic violence awareness:

1. use of physical force to compel a person to engage in a sexual act against their will, whether or not the act is completed;
2. attempted or completed sex act involving a person who is unable to understand the nature or condition of the act, unable to decline participation, or unable to communicate unwillingness to engage in the sexual act, e.g., because of underage immaturity, illness, disability, or the influence of alcohol or other drugs, because of intimidation or pressure, or because of seduction and submission (as in female forms of sexual aggression); and
3. abusive sexual contact.

Emotional abuse (also called psychological abuse) can include humiliating the victim, controlling what the victim can and cannot do, withholding information from the victim, deliberately doing something to make the victim feel diminished or embarrassed, isolating the victim from friends and family, and denying the victim access to money or other basic resources.

Women who are being emotionally abused often feel as if they do not own themselves; rather, they may feel that their significant other has nearly total control over them. Women undergoing emotional abuse often suffer from depression, which puts them at increased risk for suicide, eating disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse.

Economic abuse is when the abuser has complete control over the victim's money and other economic resources. Usually, this involves putting the victim on a strict "allowance," withholding money at will and forcing the victim to beg for the money until the abuser gives them some money. It is common for the victim to receive less money as the abuse continues. This also includes (but is not limited to) preventing the victim from finishing education or obtaining employment, or intentionally squandering or misusing communal resources.

stalking is often included among the types of Intimate Partner Violence. Stalking generally refers to repeated behavior that causes victims to feel a high level of fear (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). However, psychiatrist William Glasser states that fear and all other emotions are self-caused as evidenced by the wide range of emotions two different subjects might have in response to the same incident.

Womens Self Defense and Self Defense Awareness Notes:If any of these signs are present in your life you can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

From Domestic Violence Awareness:At the National Domestic Violence Hotline… We believe that every caller deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. We believe that every family deserves to live in a world free from violence. We believe that safe homes and safe families are the foundation of a safe society.

CLICK ON THE ABOVE GRAPHIC
or this National Domestic Violence Link

Recently, again, my sister Becky and I volunteered to do a Women's Self Defense Class at a Women's Shelter for abused female victims in the Hollywood area. Most of the women were victims of domestic violence. I was very much aware that I was the only male in the shelter, and Becky and I were respectfully sensitive in presenting the life saving information and physical skills to the women. I consider my participation as a self defense instructor and coach a privilege working with these women; while feeling a certain sadness that needing a women's shelter for abused victims is a lamentable commentary on our society.

The self defense instruction went well, the women were open and honest about their problems and concerns, and Becky and I did our best to address as many of those concerns as time would allow us. However, unlike any previous classes Becky and I taught at other shelters, when the presentation was finished the children of the abused women entered the room to rejoin with their mothers.

The reality struck me on a more personal level that the spouses or intimate partners were not the only victims of domestic violence...it is the whole family!

This page on Domestic Violence Awareness is a dedicated to those brave women who are seeking to free themselves and families from the crippling effects of domestic violence.