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What is domestic abuse?

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What is domestic abuse?

Domestic abuse is any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between two people who are, or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of their gender. It can affect everyone, including married and unmarried people who live together or in different homes, young and older people, straight and gay people and women and men. This list is not exhaustive and there are also other groups of people who suffer domestic abuse.

Abuse can be real or threatened. It can happen occasionally or on a regular basis. You do not have to be physically assaulted to be actually experiencing domestic abuse. It can also be psychological, sexual, financial or emotional. It is rarely a one off incident but tends to be a regular pattern that builds up over time.

Domestic abuse is never the fault of the survivor.

Domestic abuse is a serious problem. Around 1 in 4 women, and 1 in 6 men experience domestic abuse at some point in their lives. It also affect children; in 90% of all domestic abuse incidents involving families, the children are present in the same of next room.

One third of children witnessing violence, try to protect their parent and are often physically injured or abused either directly or indirectly as a result of this.

On average, a woman surviving domestic abuse will be assaulted 35 times before reporting it to the police. Approximately, 2 women are killed every week by their current or former partner.

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