What comes to your mind when you hear the term words of domestic violence?
Typically, people associate violence, including domestic violence, physical violence, and assault, resulting in injuries and wounds.
The sad truth is that this type of physical assault is only one amongst the various kinds of domestic violence. There are several types of categories concerning domestic abuse and physical violence. Each category of physical violence has its own set of mortifying consequences. Physical assault puts the victim at the risk of death as well. Not to mention the impact on the victim's mental and emotional health who undergoes such abuse for a more extended period.
Read on to learn more about the different categories of physical abuse.
This is one of the first red flags that are typically ignored until it gets too late. A controlling person or spouse tries to dominate the victim with the use of manipulation and physical abuse. Often, the abusers believe that their controlling actions are justified due to the victims' inferiority. Such sort of control is usually subtle at first. Gradually, it develops into something more sinister until the victim feels odd and conscious about it.
The following are the signs that your significant other is abusing you via control:
1. Your car is getting checked regularly regarding mileage and petrol consumption.
2. Your phone calls, emails, and text messages are being monitored. In some cases, the victims cannot make or receive phone calls without bringing it into their partners' knowledge.
3. The victim cannot choose their clothing or appearance. They must seek the approval of their partners. Often, the victims are manipulated and forced to dress up a certain way. Sometimes, they are asked to show more of their skin or to cover all up.
4. The victims might find their partner as overly obsessive and jealous. Their abusing partner might return home unexpectedly. Remember, this can appear as a loving and caring gesture. However, soon this type of controlling behavior can develop into something sinister. Therefore, one should keep watching out for the initial subtle signs like these of domestic violence.
5. If you find that your personal space is being invaded more often. This is also a subtle yet significant sign of physical abuse to follow.
6. Sometimes the abusers use controlling and manipulative tactics to make their victims believe that they can never survive without them (their abusive partners). And that they are so lucky to have them in their lives. This sort of control causes the victims to develop co-dependency on their abusing spouses, which can further lead to their emotional and mental well-being.
7. More often, vindictive abusers use children as their controlling tools. For instance, they might ask the children to spy on their mom while they are off to work. They might also kidnap the children and threaten to kill them if their partner decides to leave them or seek help from the police.
Suppose you find your partner abusing you by using aggression or threatening to kill you and physically harm you in any way. In that case, you are the victim of physical abuse. Also, suppose your partner is withholding your physical needs, such as food and medication. In that case, this falls in the category of physical assault.
The following are massive indicators that your significant other is physically assaulting you:
1. You are getting kicked, hit, slapped, choked, punched, scratched, pinned, shot, drowned, burnt, and pinched. The list could go on. But if your partner is waving a gun or knife at you while threatening to kill you, then you are being physically abused as well. Usually, such shoves and bites are deemed as harmless and accidental. However, it is essential to know that no physical assaults should be brushed off while saying it was an accident. Remember, such accidents might kill you.
2. If your physical needs are being withheld or purposefully ignored, you are at the receiving end of physical abuse. If your sleep is getting routinely interrupted, you are being denied food and medication. You are the victim of physical violence. Also, if you are being kept locked inside and unable to leave the house. This is deemed as domestic violence as you are being held hostage against your will.
3. If your significant other is threatening to harm your children or pets, then this is physical abuse. The same goes for the threat of destroying your property.
4. Lastly, if you find that your partner is repetitively hitting the wall, banging doors, or hitting other objects during a heated argument. This kind of behavior falls into the category of physical abuse. Throwing angry fits and destroying things in anger should not be tolerated.
Many victims are too afraid to talk about sexual abuse, which is quite understandable due to guilt and shame. Even in a marriage, it is crucial to have consented sex. The absence of which indicates that one is being sexually abused.
The following are signs that one is being sexually abused:
1. The use of force, guilt, control, and manipulation while not taking the victim’s wish and desire into account for intercourse. This also includes forcing the victim to engage in sexual activities with others and have them indulged in unwanted sexual experiences.
2. If the victim cannot make an informed decision about sexual activities but is forced to have sex. This usually happens when the victim is too young, intoxicated, drugged, or financially dependent on the abuser. This might also happen to an individual who is too old to understand what is going on.
3. Sexual abuse also includes the act of inappropriate touching and physical advances. Making fun of the victim’s sexuality and their physique also falls into this category.
4. If you find your partner falsely accusing you of infidelity and delimiting your physical contact with the outside world, then this is sexual abuse. If your partner engages in adultery and teases you about it, this is also sexual abuse.
5. Last but not least, the act of withholding sex is also part of sexual abuse.
Usually overlooked by many, verbal abuse includes derogatory words in any language that cause embarrassment, shame, threat, and emotional pain to the victim.
The following are the indicators that one is being verbally abused:
1. They are being threatened to be killed or hurt. This can include the victim’s children, pets, reputation, and property.
2. They are being called names, such as stupid, retarded, ugly, bitch, etc.
3. The victims are being told that they are ugly, unattractive, a failure, and undesirable.
4. The victims are made to believe that they are unworthy and that they deserve the name-calling.
5. The victims are being yelled at, terrorized, rampaged against, and ostracized by refusing to talk to them.
Emotional abuse serves the purpose of undermining the victim’s sense of worth by exploiting their vulnerability. The abusive behaviors that fall into this category include but are not delimited to the following indicators:
1. The victims are criticized and insulted in a way that undermines their confidence. This aspect might consist of being publicly humiliated through rejection or ridicule.
2. Emotional abuse also includes threatening to kill oneself along with the victim if they refuse to obey.
3. The abusing partners use manipulative statements that create confusion. Gaslighting, for instance, is a manipulation tactic used by the abusers to distort the victim’s sense of reality. They (the victims) are purposefully fed lies while facts are continuously denied. This kind of behavior falls into emotional abuse and can cause the victims to lose their minds.
4. If the victim finds themselves continually ignored and disregarded, it can take a severe toll on their emotional well-being. The same goes for the abuser’s use of specific actions and behaviors that attack the victim's self-esteem and sense of worth as they feel utterly humiliated.
5. The abusers tend to feed the victim with negativities, such as telling them how mentally sick and unstable they are. The use of psychological and emotional manipulation to force the victim to act according to their partner’s wishes and demands is a severe emotional abuse instance.
Find yourself in any of the situations mentioned above. You will have to understand the serious nature of it. Never accept any kind of abuse. No matter what the problem is. Even if you are financially dependent on your partner or share children with them. There is always a way out. In many regions, the lawyers and seeking the court's help are a sure way to get out of domestic abuse. For instance, the domestic violence attorney in San Diego can assist you in obtaining a restraining order against the abuser. Since these professionals know the complexities of laws, they will help you represent your case in front of the court while protecting your rights and life.
Author, Freelance writer