Domestic Violence

Also known as family violence, intimate partner violence or abuse, domestic violence is the establishment of control and fear in a relationship through physical, sexual, emotional, and/or financial abuse. While physical abuse occurs in many abusive relationships, your partner doesn't have to hit you to be abusive. Domestic violence looks and feels different in every relationship, but the constant of domestic violence is one partner’s consistent efforts to maintain power and control over the other.

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Some signs of an abusive relationship include a partner who:

• Tells you that you can never do anything right.

• Prevents you or discourages you from seeing friends or family

• Insults, demeans or shames you.

• Takes your money or refuses to give you money for necessary expenses.

• Looks at you or acts in ways that scare you.

• Prevents you from making your own decisions.

• Tells you that you are a bad parent or threatens to harm or take away your children.

• Prevents you from working or attending school.

• Destroys your property.

• Threatens to hurt or kill your pets.

• Intimidates you with guns, knives or other weapons.

• Pressures you to have sex when you don’t want to or do things sexually you’re not comfortable with.

• Pressures you to use drugs or alcohol.

While they certainly want the abuse to stop, many women and other survivors choose to stay in abusive relationships because they do not want their relationship to end. Survivors often remain in, or return to, abusive relationships because their partners threaten to harm them and their loved ones if they attempt to leave. Commonly, victims choose to leave when they become convinced that their life is at risk or that their children are in danger.

Domestic violence hurts everyone. It crosses all boundaries of age, race, ethnicity, religion, economic background, physical ability, gender identity and sexual orientation. The damage to body and spirit inflicted by domestic violence has been linked to other societal problems such as homelessness, escalated suicide rates, crime, teen pregnancy, premature births, and miscarriages. Males raised in violent homes are more likely to behave violently in their future intimate relationships.

• More than 100 Georgians are killed every year in domestic violence related homicides. (Georgia Commission on Family Violence)

• According to the CDC, 30 percent of women in Georgia between the ages of 14 and 44 have been assaulted by an intimate partner at least once.

• More than half (54%) of trans* and non-binary individuals in the US have experienced some form of intimate partner violence. (National Resource Center on Domestic Violence)

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that a woman is beaten every nine seconds in the United States.

Domestic violence is not just a "family matter". The violence will not stop until our community comes together with a common condemnation of abuse and a promise that our children will learn through our words and actions that violence is never justified.

Women's Resource Center to End Domestic Violence operates a 24-hour domestic and dating violence hotline. Calling 404-688-9436 can be the first step toward a safer life. If you are in an abusive relationship, please call to speak with an advocate. If you suspect that someone you know is living in an abusive relationship, please let her/them know that you are concerned for her/their safety and encourage her/them to contact us. Services are free and calls are confidential.