Definition of Domestic Violence

Search and you'll find multiple defintions for "domestic violence." Here are the basics that most organizations who measure and work to end violence between intimate partners agree on:

• It is behavior used by one person in an intimate relationship to control the other.
• It can take many forms, including physical violence, sexual abuse, verbal attacks, emotional abuse, and threats.
• It often escalates over time.
• Once a partner hits the other, it usually happens again.
• Domestic violence crosses economic, racial, age, religious, national, marital status, and gender lines; anyone can be a victim.
• There is a domestic violence cycle, and, once it begins, it usually continues until someone intervenes or dies.
• Women are far more likely to be abused than their male partners. A 2008 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that 1 in 4 women in the United States will experience violence by an intimate partner at some point in her life. Three women a day are murdered in the United States by a male intimate.
• According to 2005 Bureau of Justice statistics, women make up 86% of domestic violence victims. Three-fourths of domestic abuse in the home is perpetrated by men.

This section looks briefly at the forms of domestic abuse, domestic violence effects, domestic violence and teen dating, domestic violence and the church, and the domestic violence cycle.

Domestic Abuse Takes Many Forms

Domestic abuse generally takes at least one of four forms:

1. It often begins with domestic emotional abuse. This form of abuse is about robbing an intimate partner of his or her sense of self-worth. It includes:


• Calling the victim names
• Damaging his or her reputation
• Stalking
• Destroying his or her belongings
• Isolating the person from anyone who would show love and support, including family and friends


2. Domestic emotional abuse escalates to the threat of sexual or physical harm. The threats may be verbal or include weapons to intensify the fear the abused person experiences.


3. In the worst cases, the perpetrator sexually and/or physically abuses the victim.

Studies tell us that about 28 percent of women and 16 percent of men will become the victims of physical or sexual abuse by an intimate partner during their lifetime.

The longer the abuse lasts, the more damaging the effects of domestic violence.

What Can I Do?

A Call to Men: Committed to Ending Violence Against Women

A CALL TO MEN is a national men's organization devoted to ending men's violence against women, and the eradication of sexism, while maintaining strong coalitions with women's organizations already doing this important work. They believe that ending violence against women is primarily the responsibility of men. A Call to Men organizes local communities to raise awareness about domestic violence and get men involved in ending violence against women. Watch the video to learn more.