Domestic Violence Awareness Month: DV does NOT discriminate

• 1/4 women 
• 1/7 men 
• 43.8% of lesbian women and 61.1% of bisexual women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime compared to 35% of heterosexual women. 26% of gay men and 37.3% of bisexual men have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime compared to 29% of heterosexual men.
• On average, a woman will leave an abusive relationship seven times before she leaves for good. 
• Women are 70 times more likely to be killed in the two weeks after leaving than at any other time during the relationship. 
• 72% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner & 94% of the victims of these murder-suicides are female. 

Most often, domestic violence is viewed through the lens of physical abuse, but the types of domestic violence have a wide range:

• Domestic violence: (also called intimate partner violence (IPV), domestic abuse, or relationship abuse) is a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship.
• Physical Abuse: Any intentional use of physical touch to cause fear, injury, or assert control, such as hitting, shoving & strangling. 
• Sexual Abuse: Any sexual activity that occurs without willing, active, unimpaired consent, such as unwanted sexual touch, sexual assault (rape), and/or tampering with contraceptives.
• Emotional/Verbal Abuse: Non-physical behaviors such as threats, insults, screaming, constant monitoring, or isolation. 
• Economic Abuse: Exerting power and control over a partner through their finances, such as taking or withholding money from a partner, or prohibiting a partner from earning. 
• Stalking: Being repeatedly watched, followed, monitored or harassed. Occurs online or in-person & can include giving unwanted gifts. 
• Immigration Status Threats: To call immigration authorities, stealing a partner’s passport or other important documents, or not filing immigration papers. 
• Digital Abuse: Using technology to bully, stalk, threaten or intimidate a partner using texting, social media, apps, tracking, etc. 

First and foremost, if you are being abused, know that you are not alone and that it is not your fault and there are advocates waiting to help.