Upstanding Neighbours, Outstanding Lawyers
Upstanding Neighbours, Outstanding Lawyers
Common Types of Domestic Violence Explained
Domestic violence is not just limited to physical harm; it encompasses a wide range of abusive behaviours that one person in a relationship uses to control or dominate the other.
Understanding the various forms of domestic violence is key in order to recognise when you or someone you know may be in an abusive relationship.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse involves the intentional use of force against another person that results in physical injury, pain, or impairment.
It is usually the most recognisable form of domestic violence.
Examples
- Hitting, Slapping, and Punching: Striking the victim with hands or objects.
- Kicking and Biting: Using feet or teeth to inflict pain or injury.
- Strangling or Choking: Restricting the victim’s airway as a form of control or punishment.
- Throwing Objects: Using objects as weapons to intimidate or harm.
- Restraining or Imprisoning: Preventing the victim from leaving a room, house, or other space by physical force.
Emotional or Psychological Abuse
Emotional or psychological abuse involves actions or words intended to damage the victim’s emotional health, self-esteem, or mental well-being.
This form of abuse can be subtle and insidious, making it harder to recognise.
Examples
- Verbal Abuse: Insults, derogatory comments, constant criticism, or shouting designed to belittle or humiliate the victim.
- Gaslighting: Manipulating the victim into questioning their memory, perception, or sanity by denying the reality of their experiences or altering facts.
- Isolation: Controlling the victim’s social interactions by cutting them off from friends, family, or support networks, thereby increasing their dependence on the abuser.
- Intimidation: Using threats, menacing gestures, or displays of anger to instill fear in the victim, making them feel unsafe.
- Emotional Blackmail: Using guilt, fear, or obligation to manipulate the victim’s behavior, such as threatening self-harm if the victim leaves the relationship.
Economic or Financial Abuse
Economic or financial abuse involves controlling or limiting the victim’s access to financial resources, thereby making them financially dependent on the abuser and hindering their ability to leave the abusive relationship.
Examples
- Controlling Finances: Restricting the victim’s access to money, bank accounts, or financial information, or forcing them to ask for money.
- Sabotaging Employment: Preventing the victim from working or interfering with their job by making them late, causing them to miss work, or harassing them at their workplace.
- Coercive Debt: Forcing the victim to take on debt in their name or using their financial information without consent to take out loans, leading to financial instability.
- Withholding Basic Necessities: Refusing to provide money for essential items like food, clothing, or medical care as a way of maintaining control.
Threatening or Coercive Behavior
This form of abuse includes threats, intimidation, or coercion to control or dominate the victim, making them feel powerless or fearful.
Examples
- Threats of Physical Harm: Explicit threats to injure or kill the victim, their children, or pets as a means of control.
- Coercion: Forcing the victim to act against their will, such as engaging in illegal activities, by using threats or intimidation.
- Threats of Self-Harm: Manipulating the victim by threatening self-harm or suicide if they do not comply with the abuser’s demands.
- Destroying Property: Deliberately damaging the victim’s belongings, such as smashing phones, breaking furniture, or vandalising their property, to instill fear or demonstrate control.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse refers to any non-consensual sexual act or behaviour that is imposed on one partner by the other. It can occur in any relationship, regardless of marital or romantic status.
Examples
- Rape or Forced Sexual Activity: Engaging in sexual acts without the victim’s consent, using physical force, threats, or manipulation.
- Sexual Coercion: Pressuring or manipulating the victim into sexual activity by exploiting their vulnerabilities or using emotional threats.
- Degrading Sexual Treatment: Subjecting the victim to demeaning or humiliating sexual acts or comments that are intended to degrade their sense of self-worth.
- Reproductive Coercion: Forcing the victim to become pregnant, preventing them from using contraception, or sabotaging contraceptive methods to control their reproductive choices.
Controlling or Dominating Behavior
Controlling behaviour involves actions intended to make the victim feel subordinate, dependent, and unable to make decisions for themselves, thereby stripping them of their autonomy.
Examples
- Monitoring Movements and Communications: Constantly checking the victim’s whereabouts, phone calls, messages, or emails, and restricting their ability to communicate freely with others.
- Dictating Personal Choices: Controlling what the victim wears, eats, how they speak, or who they interact with, often under the guise of concern or protection.
- Enforcing Rigid Rules: Imposing strict rules and punishing the victim if they are not followed, such as setting curfews or demanding regular check-ins.
- Depriving Independence: Restricting the victim’s ability to work, socialize, or engage in activities outside the relationship, making them increasingly isolated and dependent.
Stalking
Stalking involves repeated and unwanted attention or surveillance by the abuser, which causes the victim to feel unsafe, harassed, or threatened.
Examples
- Following the Victim: Physically tracking the victim’s movements, showing up at their home, workplace, or places they frequent without invitation.
- Harassing Communication: Bombarding the victim with unwanted phone calls, messages, emails, or social media interactions.
- Using Technology for Surveillance: Installing tracking devices, hacking into accounts, or using spyware to monitor the victim’s activities without their knowledge.
- Leaving Unwanted Gifts: Sending or leaving gifts, flowers, or notes as a means of making the victim feel watched or pursued.
Social Abuse
Social abuse involves isolating the victim from friends, family, and social networks to increase their reliance on the abuser and reduce their support system.
Examples
- Preventing Social Interactions: Discouraging or forbidding the victim from seeing friends or family, or attending social events.
- Spreading Rumors: Undermining the victim’s reputation by spreading lies or rumors within their social circles, leading to social isolation.
- Public Humiliation: Embarrassing or belittling the victim in front of others to damage their social standing and self-esteem.
- Jealousy and Possessiveness: Using jealousy as an excuse to control the victim’s interactions with others, accusing them of infidelity or inappropriate behavior without cause.
Spiritual or Cultural Abuse
Spiritual or cultural abuse occurs when the abuser uses the victim’s religious or cultural beliefs to control or manipulate them.
Examples
- Preventing Religious Practices: Stopping the victim from practicing their religion or forcing them to participate in religious activities against their will.
- Using Religion to Justify Abuse: Twisting religious or cultural beliefs to justify controlling behavior, such as claiming that the victim must obey the abuser because of their gender or role in the relationship.
- Undermining Beliefs: Mocking or belittling the victim’s religious or cultural beliefs as a way to erode their self-confidence and autonomy.
- Forced Conversion: Coercing the victim to change their religion or cultural practices against their wishes.
Technological Abuse
Technological abuse involves using technology to control, harass, or intimidate the victim.
This can include the misuse of social media, online accounts, or other digital platforms.
Examples
- Cyberstalking: Tracking the victim’s online activities, hacking into accounts, or using social media to monitor or harass them.
- Revenge Porn: Sharing or threatening to share intimate images or videos of the victim without their consent.
- Digital Monitoring: Installing spyware on the victim’s devices to track their movements, communications, and internet usage.
- Online Harassment: Sending threatening or abusive messages via email, text, or social media, or using online platforms to spread false information about the victim.
Importance of Recognising Domestic Violence
Understanding these different forms of abuse is essential for recognising when domestic violence is occurring.
Victims often do not realize that non-physical forms of abuse are also serious and can be equally damaging.
If you recognise any of these behaviours in your relationship or in the relationship of someone you know, it is important to seek help and take action.
Seek Legal Help
If you are in a relationship which is covered by the domestic violence laws and another party to that relationship commits an act of domestic violence towards you, then you may wish to apply to the Magistrates Court for a Protection Order (Domestic Violence Order).
The application will be heard by the Magistrates Court and if granted, a DVO will be made.
For a DVO to be made, it must be shown that:
- A relevant relationship exists;
- An act or acts of Domestic Violence has/have occurred; and
- It is necessary and desirable to make an order.
A DVO usually imposes a standard condition requiring the other party to be of good behaviour toward you and not commit any further acts of domestic violence. You may also request further conditions be imposed to prevent the other party from contacting or approaching you or your family members or associates. The granting of a DVO will also require the other party to surrender all firearms in their possession. A DVO may be made for a period of up to 5 years.
If you are with an application for a DVO and you do not believe the Order should be granted, then you will need to appear at the hearing to oppose the application.
Obtaining expert assistance from our domestic violence lawyers is crucial to ensure that you achieve the best outcome in your case.
