Domestic Violence and Battery

Women face the highest risk for all forms of abuse, not in a dark alley or war-torn nation, but in the sanctity of their own homes. Research into every category of violence against women violence against women - psychological, verbal, emotional, physical - shows that the most likely perpetrator is a family member, a spouse, or an acquaintance or friend of someone in the family.¹ Nearly 25% of women in a 1998 survey reported having been raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner or date at some time in their lifetime.² Domestic battery - injury of a woman at the hands of her husband or lover - is responsible for more injuries to adult women than any other cause.³ In fact, battery results in more injuries requiring medical treatment than rape, auto accidents, and muggings combined.⁴ Contrary to popular belief, domestic violence against women is no more likely to occur among the poor and uneducated than it is among the affluent and privileged and is not particular to any ethnicity or confined to city or suburb.⁵ In the United States, domestic violence crimes account for up to 40% of all calls to police.⁶ In 1995, 30% of female murder victims in the U.S. were killed by their husbands or boyfriends.⁷ The scope of the problem expands when one considers the various forms of emotional abuse which range from daily verbal humiliation to controlling and/or threatening acts to financial exploitation to stalking to spiritual abuse (when a woman is prevented from practicing her faith). As defined by Education Wife Assault: "Emotional abuse, like physical abuse, is used to control, demean, harm or punish a woman. While the forms of abuse may vary, the end result is the same - a woman is fearful of her partner and changes her behavior to please him or be safe from harm.

Many people think that emotional abuse is not as serious or harmful as physical abuse. Women state that this is not true, and that the biggest problem they often face is getting others to take emotional abuse seriously."⁸ The behavior of intimidating one's partner also occurs within same-sex relationships, as is indicated by reports of lesbian and gay domestic abuse.

Actions, Information & Opportunities to Help
There are many websites -- both comprehensive and single-issue -- dedicated to informing and analyzing issues related to domestic violence and battery. Also listed below are resources that offer help, theoretical sociological works, cultural studies and multiple published news articles and campaign information pieces.

¹Violence Against Women Office. U.S. Department of Justice, 1994.
²Tjaden, Patricia and Nancy Thoennes. Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey. National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 2000
³Braude, Marjorie, M.D. "Violence and Women." The Women's Complete Healthbook. Ed. Roselyn Payne Epps and Susan Cobb Stewart. American Medical Women's Association, 1995.
⁴Stark, E. and Fliterart, A. "Medical Therapy as Repression: The Case of Battered Women," Health and Medicine Summer/Fall 1982: 29-32.
⁵Braude (as cited above)
⁶"Equality Denied: The Status of Women in Policing." National Center for Women and Policing, 1999.
⁷Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey, August 1995
⁸Education Wife Assault is a Canadian organization designed to inform and educate the community about the issue of wife assault/woman abuse in order to decrease the incidence of physical, psychological, emotional and sexual violence against women and the effect that woman abuse has on children.

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