Domestic violence is defined as a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviors that one person uses against another to gain power and control over that person. Partners may be married or not married; heterosexual, gay, or lesbian; living together, separated or dating.
Domestic violence knows no boundaries; victims can be of any age, sex, race, culture, religion, or education, employment, or marital status.
This includes but is not limited to:
physical abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, economic abuse, isolation, neglect, and social abuse.
Types of abuse may include:
Physical abuse
Physical abuse is any physically aggressive behavior, indirect physically harmful behavior, or threats of physical violence. This includes, but is not limited to, throwing objects, pushing, shoving, slapping, hitting, kicking, stomping, biting, punching, choking, burning, dragging, hair-pulling, and using weapons or objects to injure.
Verbal abuse
Verbal abuse includes, but is not limited to, threatening, name-calling, belittling, ridiculing, insulting, and cursing.
Emotional or psychological abuse
Emotional or psychological abuse includes, but is not limited to, long periods of intentional silence, derogatory or demeaning comments, making threats to harass or kill the victim or the victim’s family, withdrawing love, ignoring, intimidating, hurting or threatening to hurt pets, isolating, manipulating, and other actions to imply that the victim is “crazy”.
Neglect
Neglect includes, but is not limited to, the denial of basic human needs such as food, clothing, shelter, medical attention, and personal hygiene. In some cases, it may mean complete abandonment.
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse is using sex in an exploitative fashion or forcing sex on another person. This includes, but is not limited to, unwanted touching or abuse of genitals or breasts, or rape, rape with objects, offensive statements of another’s sexuality or body, forced sexual relations with others, and prostitution. Sex can be pressured, coerced or forced.
Isolation
Isolation includes, but is not limited to, locking the victim in the home, providing no access to a car, telephone, etc., monitoring and controlling what the victim does, who the victim sees, where the victim goes, and not allowing or limiting contact with friends and family.
Economic abuse
Economic abuse includes, but is not limited to, preventing the victim from getting or keeping a job, making the victim ask for money, giving her/him an allowance, and taking her/his money, not letting her/him know about or have access to the family income.
Local crisis line (800) 221-4361
All services are Free and Confidential
Every nine seconds
a woman is beaten and/or assaulted in the United States
Identifying an abusive relationship:
If you have experienced any of these things, you may be in an abusive relationship.
Remember, when someone scares, hurts, or continually makes fun of you, IT’S ABUSE.
Does your partner:
- Embarrass or make fun of you in front of others?
- Put down your accomplishments or ideas?
- Use intimidation/threats to get their way?
- Call you names or yell at you?
- Use alcohol or drugs as an excuse to say hurtful things or to abuse you?
- Grab, push, kick, pinch, shove, slap, torture, or hit you?
- Pressure you sexually for things you aren’t ready for?
- Call several times at night or show up to make sure you are where you said you would be?
- Prevent you from doing things you want, like hanging out with friends or wanting to be by yourself?
- Make you feel like there “is no way out” of the relationship?
- Make you feel like everything that doesn’t go right is your fault?
Do you:
- Sometimes feel scared of how your partner will act?
- Constantly make excuses to other people for your partner’s behavior?
- Believe that your partner will change if only you change something about yourself?
- Try not to do anything that will make your partner mad?
- Feel like no matter what you do your partner is never happy with you?
- Always do what your partner wants instead of what you want?
- Stay with your partner only because you are afraid of what your partner will do if you break up?
Residents in shelter
Crisis calls answered
Non-residential survivors served
Numbers taken from July 2020 – June 2021
Find a shelter near you
DOVES of Gateway provides services to the Gateway counties of Rowan, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan and Bath.
All Kentucky counties are covered by one of the 15 sister shelters of ZeroV, Kentucky’s coalition of domestic violence shelters and services.
