Are you being abused??

There are different types of abuse. This list is not complete. If you are being treated in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, seek the help of a counselor or a friend. Abuse is a hard thing to admit, but there is support for you.

Physical Abuse

~Pushes or shoves you
~Holds you to keep you from leaving
~Slaps or bites you
~Kicks or chokes you
~Hits, punches or stomps you
~Throws objects at you
~Locks you in or out of the house
~Abandons you in a dangerous place
~Refuses you help when you are sick, injured or pregnant
~Subjects you to reckless driving
~Forces you off the road or keeps you from driving, throws you out of vehicle
~Rapes you
~Threatens or hurts you with a weapon

Sexual Abuse

~Tells anti-women jokes, makes demeaning remarks about women
~Treats women as sex objects
~Is jealously angry, accuses you of having sex with someone else
~Insists you dress in a more sexual way than you want
~Accuses you of dressing to attract men
~Minimized the importance of your feelings about sex
~Criticizes you sexually
~Insists on unwanted and uncomfortable touching
~Withholds sex and affection
~Calls you sexual names like "whore", "slut", or "frigid"
~Forces you to strip against your will
~Publicly shows sexual interest in other women
~Has affairs with other women after agreeing to a faithful relationship
~Forces you to have sex with him or others, forces you to watch sex acts
~Forces you to perform unwanted perverted sexual acts
~Forces sex after a beating
~Forces sex with objects or weapons (for the purpose of hurting you)
~Forces sex when you are sick or too soon after pregnancy or surgery
~Committed sadistic sexual acts

Emotional Abuse

~Ignores your feelings
~Ridicules or insults your most valued beliefs, religion, racial heritage or class
~Withholds approval, appreciation or affection
~Ridicules or insults women as a group
~Continually criticizes you, calls you names, shouts at you
~Insults or drives away your friends
~Humiliates you in private or public
~Refuses to socialize with you
~Keeps you from working, controls your money, or makes all the decisions
~Refuses to work or share money if he does work
~Takes car keys or money away
~Regularly threatens to leave or tell you to leave
~Punishes or deprives the children when he is angry with you
~Threatens to kidnap the children if you leave
~Manipulates you with lies and contradictions
~Creates such a stir at work that you are fired

1. Almost four million American women were physically abused by their husbands or boyfriends in the last year alone.
2. A woman is physically abused every 15 seconds in the United States.
3. Two-thirds of attacks on women are committed by someone the victim knows -- often a husband or boyfriend.
4. Women are more often victims of domestic violence than victims of burglary, muggings, or other physical crime combined.
5. Forty-two percent of murdered women are killed by their intimate male partners.
6. South Carolina is number 2 in the United States in domestic violence.
7. South Carolina is number 1 in domestic violence related homicides.

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This page is maintained by Robin Moss