Forms of violence
Am I a victim
of domestic violence?
Verbal abuse
Verbal abuse is any abuse that can be heard.
Here are some examples:
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• Raising their tone to intimidate their partner
• Using threats
• Insulting or name-calling
• Blackmailing
• Giving orders
Psychological abuse
Psychological abuse is a series of abusive and humiliating remarks or attitudes.
Here are some examples:
​• Denigrating intellectual abilities or appearance
• Criticizing their way of educating children or cooking
• Making negative comments in public
• Commenting or criticizing their sexual performance
• Leading them to think they are incompetent/a loser
• Ignoring the person
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Psychological abuse is a form of subtle abuse, and therefore more difficult to identify. It often starts with comments that do not seem so serious.
Physical violence
Contrary to what everyone believes, a partner doesn’t always need to hit, squeeze someone’s arms or try to strangle them to be violent and to dominate.
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Physical violence is a physical manifestation of violence, but not necessarily contact between individuals:
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• Throwing objects directly towards or near the person
• Blocking their way, pushing them
• Punching or kicking objects
Financial abuse
Financial abuse is everything related to the control of money, such as:
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• Forcing a partner to pay for all their essential needs
• Forcing a partner to go into debt
• Prohibiting a partner from buying certain essential items
• Criticizing purchases made for children
• Forcing a partner to steal or commit fraud
• Controlling a partner’s income and managing their finances without consulting them
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This form of violence deprives a partner of their autonomy.
Social abuse
Social abuse primarily involves the victim’s social network:
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• Constantly belittling people who are important to their partner
• Constantly criticizing their job, workplace or colleagues
• Denigrating a partner’s hobbies, activities or sports
• Prohibiting visitors, seeing or talking to friends
• Prohibiting contacts with family members
• Controlling emails and phone calls
• Forcing them to drop out of school or prohibiting them from working
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Again, this form of abuse develops gradually.
Little by little, victims finds themselves alone and isolated.
Sexual violence
Sexual violence is more difficult to discern because sexuality refers to a couple’s intimacy and is still considered by many as a "conjugal duty".
It can also be embarrassing for a victim to explain what they are going through or what they are forced to do during sexual intercourse.
Sexual violence sometimes takes the form of:
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• Insulting a partner during intercourse
• Humiliating or intimidating a partner by comparing their body to that of others
• Forcing a partner to wear clothing or accessories associated with pornography
• Forcing a partner to watch pornography and imitate pornographic films
• Hitting or biting during intercourse
• Forcing a someone to have sex or perform certain sexual acts is sexual assault. Yes, sexual assault also happens within a couple.