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Domestic Violence FAQ
Click on the Questions below
1)
Isn't domestic violence really just mutual abuse?
No. In fact we believe that in each relationship
where there is violence and controlling behavior, there is a pattern in
which one person controls the other most of the time. Someone who is being abused may choose to
use violence as a way to resist the control put over them by their
abuser.
CLICK HERE for a document that serves to help train law enforcement
officers to determine a primary aggressor.
CLICK
HERE (Adobe
PDF file) for more info on this topic. Emerge offers training for
law enforcement officers throughout the nation.
CLICK HERE
for information on the "Danger Assessment and Safety Planning" trainings
and when the training is coming to your area.
2) Is
domestic violence just physical violence?
No, the definition Emerge uses for domestic violence
is forcing one's partner to do something that they don't want to do or
preventing them from doing what they want to do. This definition
includes physical violence and threats of violence, but it also includes psychological, mental,
sexual, and economic abuse. All forms of abuse are addressed through Emerge's batterer intervention groups.
CLICK HERE for more
information on types of abuse.
3) Do
alcohol or other drugs cause domestic violence?
While alcohol and other drugs can certainly escalate
abuse, neither cause a batterer to abuse his partner. Substances will
lower inhibitions, and many abusers believe they have less
responsibility wile using substances. Under the influence, abusers may have fewer barriers on
how abusive they will be, so the abuse tends to be more violent. (CLICK
HERE for discussion on this topic (and review of research) in New
Zealand) A batterer, even when under the influence of substances, is the
one who makes the decision to abuse their partner. Someone who is
abusive may not remember choosing abusive actions while under the
influence, but it does not mean
they did not make a decision. Studies done on 'state dependant learning'
explain why this is so. (CLICK
HERE for more information on state dependant learning)
4) Does domestic violence
happen more in low income and minority families?
Because so much domestic violence is never reported
in high-income families, the reliability of the statistics should always
be questioned. (CLICK
HERE to access an article that discusses this further) Domestic
violence is a significant problem in relationships between people of all
different races, nationalities, economic classes, and religions.
5)Is
partner abuse a relatively new social problem?
Domestic violence has been a social issue throughout
history. However, it has been ignored in laws and politics up
until recent decades. The reason domestic violence was ignored has a lot
to do with how women have been regarded and seen as subservient to men.
In that subservience, abuse and violence were seen as being an
acceptable way to control the family.
Over the past few decades, domestic violence has been
recognized as something that seriously harms both the person being
abused and the children in the relationship. Also, as oppression is
faced throughout society, roles for a man and a woman are being looked
at through the view of respect and equality rather than dominance. Laws
have been created to provide safety as well as to work towards
encouraging relationships that are free of abuse and violence.
CLICK
HERE for a brief list of myths about domestic violence.
CLICK HERE for more on the grassroots history of domestic violence,
and more on the overlap of alcohol and domestic violence. For history
on the criminalization of domestic violence,
CLICK HERE.
If you have questions that are not answered in this section, please
visit our discussion forum, and you can post your question after
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