Knowing the types of Domestic violence

Lenore E. Walker writes“One woman described life-threatening physical assaults, one of which resulted in a broken vertebra in her neck. She was in physical pain for months following this beating.” Whenever we listen to the term Domestic violence, we always think of one partner beating the other one. We rarely think of any other type of violence. In Walker’s book, The Battered Woman, she writes about an abuse survivor she interviewed: “When asked to describe the most painful battering incident, she said it was her husband commanded her to get on her knees and make sounds like an animal. This psychological degradation was far more humiliating and painful than the physical abuse she suffered. Battered women repeatedly cite psychological humiliation and isolation as their worst battering experiences, whether or not they have ever been physically abused.”

Domestic violence has various types. Physically hitting the partner is one of its types.

Now, let’s see various types of domestic violence.

Physical abuse – It is the most common and recognizable form of domestic violence. It involves the use of force against the victim that will cause the person some injury. The injury that is caused might not always be severe, but can be minimal as well. The minimal injury as well is going to be domestic violence. The most common actions in physical abuse involve hitting, slapping, pulling, punching, hitting with an object, threatening with a weapon, etc. It may also include interrupting while having meals or sleeping by hitting the victim or locking victim at home, denying help when sick, or even hitting or kicking the wall, inanimate objects, etc.
Sexual abuse – When someone is abused sexually, they’re forced or tricked to do some of the other sexual activity often against their will. It is the type of abuse that can either happen in person or even sometimes online. The immediate reaction to sexual abuse is always a shock, fear, or even disbelief. It can also result in some long time severe mental illnesses. Sexual abuse involves actions such as forced, unwanted sex, engaging in harmful sexual activities, making fun of other’s sexuality, body, unwanted penetration or even touching private parts, etc.
Emotional abuse – It involves the destruction of a person’s self-worth. Here, the other person makes use of the victim’s emotions to abuse the person. Here, the mental health of a person is often at stake. This type of abuse is often hard to detect and sometimes, it can also be paired up with any other type of abuse. It involves insulting or criticizing the other person, threatening to cause physical harm, ignoring the victim’s needs, desires, telling the victim that they are mentally unstable, or even forcing the victim to take drugs or alcohol, etc.
Financial abuse – This type of violence is least obvious, yet common in families wherein families have joint bank accounts. Often, the victim is dependent on some of the other people for money. It may involve activities such as controlling the family income, how the money is spent, causing the victim to leave the job or even not taking a new job. It also includes spending excessive money on nonessential items such as drugs, alcohol, hobbies and not giving enough money to the victim to fulfill necessities. Here, the abusers take control over the victim’s bank account as well.
Verbal abuse – Verbal abuse is when the abuser abuses the victim by name-calling, using slang words, yelling, screaming, name-calling, or even threatening to kill the victim, family, or reputation.
Social abuse – Social abuse is preventing the victim to have contact with family or friends. Here the aim is to cut off all the social relations of a victim. It may include activities such as behaving rudely to the victim’s family, restricting the use of phone or car, forbidding going out and meeting people, etc.
Spiritual or religious abuse – It includes activities such as using spiritual beliefs to scare or control the victim, stopping from practicing religious practice, forcing the victim to practice unwanted spiritual practices, or making use of religion to cause any physical abuse, etc.
Image-based abuse – In this type, the victim is often threatened by someone to share their nude, intimate image without consent. It also includes photoshopping a person’s image over a sexually explicit image or a video. It also does include filming sexual activity. This type of abuse is also called revenge porn.