* Alcohol consumption, especially at harmful or hazardous levels, is a major contributor to the occurrence of intimate partner violence.
    * In the recent meta-analysis research, every study that examined alcohol use or excessive drinking as a risk factor for partner violence found a significant association, with correlation coefficients ranging from r = 0.21 to r = 0.57.
    * Alcohol use directly affects cognitive and physical function, reducing self-control, leaving individuals less capable of negotiating a non-violent resolution to conflicts within relationships.
    * In the United States of America, victims believed their partners to have been drinking prior to a physical assault in 55 percent of cases.
    * According to the survey of violence against women in Canada, women who lived with heavy drinkers were five times more likely to be assaulted by their partners than those who lived with non-drinkers.
    * Having a culturally supported expectation that drinking alcohol will lead to aggressive behavior increases the risk of committing violence towards a partner.
    * In general, in individual cases, the higher the level of alcohol consumption, the more serious is the violence.
    * In the US around 11 percent of all homicides between 1976 and 2002 were committed by an intimate partner.
    * In the US it has been estimated that a 1 percent increase in the price of alcohol will decrease the probability of intimate partner violence towards women by about 5 percent.
    * In the US, treatment for alcohol dependence among males significantly decreased husband-to-wife physical and psychological violence and wife-to- husband marital violence six and 12 months later .
    * Alcohol consumption in victims of intimate partner violence has also been shown, although at a lower level than in perpetrators. For example, a Swiss study indicated that victims had been under the influence of alcohol in over 9 percent of incidents of intimate partner violence (compared with 33 percent of perpetrators), while in Iceland, 22 percent of female domestic violence victims reported using alcohol following the event as a mechanism for coping.
    * In some societies, both heavy drinking and violent behaviors towards female partners are associated with masculinity.
    * Focusing just on governmental costs of services in a developed society, the costs of policing, fire and social work services attributable to alcohol often far outweigh the costs of health services.
    * The economic costs of partner violence in the US are $ 12.6 billion a year.


   1. World Health Organization. (2002). First World Report on Violence and Health. Retrieved on April 24, 2008 from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/
   2. Room, R., Babor, T., Rehm, J. (2005). Alcohol and public health. Lancet, 365: 519-30.
   3. Bureau of Justice Statistics (1998). Alcohol and crime: an analysis of national data on the prevalence of alcohol involvement in crime. Washington, DC, United States Department of Justice.
   4. World Health Organization. (2002). First World Report on Violence and Health. Retrieved on April 24, 2008 from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/
   5. Field, C., Caetano, R., Nelson, S. (2004). Alcohol and violence related cognitive risk factors associated with the perpetration of intimate partner violence. Journal of Family Violence, 19, 270-275.
   6. WHO Expert Committee on Problems Related to Alcohol Consumption. (2007). Second report. (WHO technical report series; no. 944)
   7. Bureau of Justice Statistics (2004). Homicide trends in the United States. Washington, DC. United States Department of Justice.
   8. Markovitz, S. (2000). The price of alcohol, wife abuse, and husband abuse. Southern Economic Journal, 67, 279-304.
   9. Stuart, G. et al. (2003). Reductions in marital violence following treatment for alcohol dependence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 1113-1131.
  10. World Health Organization. (2006). Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol Fact sheet. Retrieved on April 23, 2008 from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/factsheets/ft_intimate.pdf
  11. World Health Organization. (2006). Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol Fact sheet. Retrieved on April 23, 2008 from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/factsheets/ft_intimate.pdf
  12. WHO Expert Committee on Problems Related to Alcohol Consumption. (2007). Second report. (WHO technical report series; no. 944)
  13. Waters, H. et al (2004). The economic dimensions of interpersonal violence. Geneva: World Health Organization.

    * Victims are reluctant to acknowledge abuse due to a powerful stigma of being a “victim”.
    * Victims are fearful of being blamed for the abuse (“allowing” it).
    * Societal pressure to maintain relationships.
    * Fear of retaliation from the abuser. According to the Department of Justice, it made up 19 percent of the reasons females did not report their victimization to the police.
    * 35 percent of female and 52 percent of male victims of domestic violence consider it to be a “private or personal matter”.
    * Victim is financially dependent on the perpetrator.
    * The victim may not know about available resources to assist her/him in leaving. In a 2001 survey, only 17 percent of the domestic violence victims who called 911 were asked about a restraining order, and 83 percent were provided no printed information with contact information or resources.
    * 40 percent of Hispanic Texans who reported experiencing at least one form of domestic violence took no action.
    * Leaving the abuser can be dangerous. According to the United States Department of Justice, the most dangerous time for a person who is being abused is when she/he tries to leave.
    * Another statement from the Department of Justice: violence between intimates is difficult to measure because it often occurs in private.
    * Rapes/sexual assaults committed by strangers are more likely to be reported to the police than rapes/sexual assaults committed by “nonstrangers,” including intimate partners, other relatives and friends or acquaintances. Between 1992 and 2000, 41 percent of the rapes/sexual assaults committed by strangers were reported to the police. During the same time period, 24 percent of the rapes/sexual assaults committed by an intimate were reported.
    * Abuse victims are also hesitant to contact the police because the officials’ response is often less than adequate. For example, in only one-third of the domestic violence calls did an officer take photographs or ask about prior abuse.
    * Even when the police was called, only 49 percent of domestic violence crimes resulted in arrest.
    * Since women are 6 times more likely to be victims of domestic violence than men (19 percent vs. 3 percent )
    * Culturally and historically, women and young girls tend to have lower self-esteem than their male counterparts, potentially preventing them from confronting an abuser.
    * Verbal and emotional types of abuse profoundly effect woman’s self-esteem, “get inside a woman’s head”, making her even less likely to leave an abusive relationship and creating a vicious cycle.


   1. Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Center for the Advancement of Women, Violence against Women: A Report of Findings from National Focus Groups with Women and Teen Girls, October 2006.
   2. Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Center for the Advancement of Women, Violence against Women: A Report of Findings from National Focus Groups with Women and Teen Girls, October 2006.
   3. Callie Marie Rennison & Sarah Welchans, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 178247, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: Intimate Partner Violence at 1, 7 (2000), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv.pdf
   4. Callie Marie Rennison & Sarah Welchans, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 178247, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report: Intimate Partner Violence at 1, 7 (2000), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv.pdf
   5. Michael Cassidy, Caroline G. Nicholl, & Carmen R. Ross (2001). Results of a Survey Conducted by the Metropolitan Police Department of Victims who Reported Violence Against Women.
   6. Texas Council on Family Violence, Statistics, 2002 http://makethecall.org/texas_stats.htm
   7. United States Department of Justice, National Crime Victim Survey, 1995.
   8. United States Department of Justice, Intimate Partner Violence in the United States. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1993-2005.
   9. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Reporting Crime to the Police, 1992-2000, March 2003.
  10. Michael Cassidy, Caroline G. Nicholl, & Carmen R. Ross (2001). Results of a Survey Conducted by the Metropolitan Police Department of Victims who Reported Violence Against Women.
  11. Durose, Mathew, et al. (2005). “Family Violence Statistics.” US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
  12. Catalano, Shannan. (2004). Criminal Victimization, 2003. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
  13. Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Center for the Advancement of Women, Violence against Women: A Report of Findings from National Focus Groups with Women and Teen Girls, October 2006.
  14. Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Center for the Advancement of Women, Violence against Women: A Report of Findings from National Focus Groups with Women and Teen Girls, October 2006.

    * The economic costs of partner violence in the US are $ 12.6 billion a year.
    * Canada: US$1.1 billion a year (direct medical costs to women).
    * England & Wales: £5.7 billion in 2004, with an extra £17 billion estimated for emotional costs to the victim.
    * The total costs of intimate partner violence against adult women in the United States exceed $5.8 billion per year.
    * The total medical and mental health care cost per victimization by an intimate partner was $838 per rape, $816 per physical assault, and $294 per stalking.
    * Of women who enter emergency rooms due to violence-related injuries, 84 percent sustained those injuries from an intimate partner.
    * An estimated total value of days lost from employment and household chores as a direct result of domestic violence is $858.6 million.
    * The largest proportion of the costs is derived from physical assault victimizations because that is the most prevalent form of intimate violence (73.2 percent). The largest component of the costs is health care, accounting for nearly $4.1 billion—more than two-thirds of the total costs.
    * Victims of intimate partner physical assault lose an estimated 9.5 million days of activity each year (time lost from paid and household work); that equals 33,163 person-years of lost productivity. That’s 71.6 percent of the total lost productivity; another 22.6 percent of lost productivity is due to stalking.
    * An estimated 503,485 women are stalked each year by a former spouse/boyfriend.
    * An estimated 1,252 women are killed by an intimate partner each year.
    * The present value of lifetime earnings (PVLE , the expected value of lost earnings that homicide victims would have otherwise contributed to society) is an estimated $892.7 million—an average of more than $713,000 per fatality.
    * A study in Chicago, IL, found that women with a history of partner violence were more likely to have experienced spells of unemployment, to have had a high turnover of jobs, and to have suffered more physical and mental health problems that could affect job performance.
    * According to National Domestic Violence Hotline, family violence costs up to $10 billion each year in medical expenses, legal costs, shelters, foster care, absenteeism, and non-productivity.


   1. Waters, H. et al (2004). The economic dimensions of interpersonal violence. Geneva: World Health Organization.
   2. Waters, H. et al (2004). The economic dimensions of interpersonal violence. Geneva: World Health Organization.
   3. Walby, S. (2004). The cost of domestic violence. London: Women and Equality Unit.
   4. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2003).Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
   5. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2003).Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
   6. National Domestic Violence Hotline: What is Domestic Violence? Retrieved April 2, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ndvh.org/dvInfo.html
   7. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2003).Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
   8. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2003).Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
   9. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2003).Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  10. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2003).Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  11. National Domestic Violence Hotline: What is Domestic Violence? Retrieved April 2, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ndvh.org/dvInfo.html
  12. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2003).Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  13. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2003).Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  14. World Health Organization. (2002). First World Report on Violence and Health. Retrieved on April 24, 2008 from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/
  15. National Domestic Violence Hotline: What is Domestic Violence? Retrieved April 2, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ndvh.org/dvInfo.html

    * An estimated one out of every four children in California is directly exposed to violence as a victim or witness
    * On any given day in San Diego, 531 women and children need shelter
    * 21,000 DV calls/cases reported to law enforcement in 2004
    * Over 5,600 calls to DV hotline annually

    * For Federal fiscal year 2004, an estimated 3 million children were alleged to have been abused or neglected and received investigations or assessments by State and local child protective services (CPS) agencies.
    * In many cases the safety of children is often overlooked because their circumstances did not fit the traditional view of child abuse or domestic violence. For example, cases not considered as child abuse because the mothers were considered the primary targets, or cases not considered domestic violence because the children were the intended or unintended victims of the perpetrators seeking revenge against the primary target for leaving.
    * Studies show that child abuse occurs in 30-60 percent of family violence cases that involve families with children.
    * A 2005 study of low-income pre-school children in Michigan found that 46.7 percent of the children in the study had been exposed to at least one incident of mild or severe violence in the family.
    * Slightly more than half of female victims of intimate violence live in households with children under age 12.
    * In a 2003 anonymous telephone survey with 114 battered mothers in four U.S. cities, 73 percent of the mothers who responded reported that perpetrators used their children as a tool or pawn to indirectly get at the mother. About one in five mothers reported that the perpetrators made her children watch him hit or sexually assault her.
    * In a study in Ireland, 64 percent of abused women said that their children routinely witnessed the violence, as did 50 percent of abused women in Monterrey, Mexico.

Behavioral/Emotional Functioning
    * APA (American Psychiatric Association) informs that children exposed to domestic violence are at risk for developmental problems, psychiatric disorders, school difficulties, aggressive behavior, and low self-esteem.
    * Children exposed to maternal domestic violence, without experiencing child maltreatment, were 40 percent more likely to have a total behavioral problem score within the borderline to clinical range than CBCL (Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist) normative children.
    * Children who witnesses violence or threats of violence between parents are more likely to display harmful drinking patterns later in life.
    * As a recent health study suggests, exposed children suffered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as bed-wetting or nightmares, and were at greater risk than their peers of having allergies, asthma, gastrointestinal problems, headaches and flu.
    * 2007 study of 687 children exposed to domestic violence concludes that child co-victimization increased odds of reaching clinically significant levels of traumatic symptoms compared to children who witnessed the event but were not victimized.

Cognitive/Attitudinal Functioning
    * Research confirms that children who witness domestic violence may have impaired educational attainment. Two typical types of responses by children were identified: those who became quiet and withdrawn, and those who became loud and aggressive.
    * A study of 2,245 children and teenagers found that recent exposure to violence in the home was a significant factor in predicting a child's violent behavior.
    * In general, boys exposed to domestic violence have been shown to exhibit more frequent problems and problems that are externally oriented, such as hostility and aggression, while girls generally show evidence of more internally oriented problems, such as depression and somatic complaints.


   1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. Child Maltreatment 2004 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2006).
   2. Domestic Violence Death Review Committee Annual Report to the Chief Coroner 2005. Submitted by the DVDRC Chair: Al J.C. O.Marra, B.A., M.A., LL.B., LL.M.
   3. Edleson, J.L. (1999). "The overlap between child maltreatment and woman battering." Violence Against Women, February, 1999.
   4. Mary A. Kernic et al. (2003). Behavioral Problems Among Children Whose Mothers are Abused by an Intimate Partner, 27 Child Abuse & Neglect 1231 at 1239.
   5. Lawrence A. Greenfield et al.,U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 167237, Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouse, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends (1998) available at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/vi.pdf
   6. Edleson, Jeffrey L., Mbilinyi, Lyungai F., Shetty, Sudha. (2003). Parenting in the Context of Domestic Violence. San Francisco: Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, Center for Families, Children & the Courts. Available at http//www.courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/cfcc/resources/publications.
   7. World Health Organization. (2002). First World Report on Violence and Health. Retrieved on April 24, 2008 from http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/
   8. American Psychiatric Association (2005). Let’s Talk Facts About Domestic Violence. Retrieved on January 29, 2008 from http://www.healthyminds.org/multimedia/domesticviolence.pdf
   9. Mary A. Kernic et al. (2003). Behavioral Problems Among Children Whose Mothers are Abused by an Intimate Partner, Child Abuse & Neglect, 27, 1231- 1239.
  10. Trocki, K., Caetano, R. (2003). Exposure to family violence and temperament factors as predictors of adult psychopathology and substance use outcomes. Journal of Addictions Nursing, 14, 183-192.
  11. Graham-Bermann, S. & Seng, J. (2005).
  12. Violence Exposure and Traumatic Stress Symptoms as Additional Predictors of Health Problems in High-Risk Children, Journal of Pediatrics,146, 309.
  13. Spilsbury, J.; Belliston, L. et al. (2007). Clinically Significant Trauma Symptoms and Behavioral Problems in a Community-based Sample of Children Exposed to Domestic Violence. Journal of Family Violence, Volume 22, 6, August 2007 , pp. 487-499(13)
  14. Byrne, D., Taylor, B. (2007). Children at Risk from Domestic Violence and their Educational Attainment: Perspectives of Education Welfare Officers, Social Workers and Teachers. Child Care in Practice, Volume 13, 3, July 2007, pp. 185-201(17).
  15. Mark I. Singer, et al., Cuyahoga County Community. Health Research Institute, The Mental Health Consequences of Children's Exposure to Violence (1998).
  16. Edleson, Jeffrey L., Mbilinyi, Lyungai F., Shetty, Sudha. (2003). Parenting in the Context of Domestic Violence. San Francisco: Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, Center for Families, Children & the Courts. Available at http//www.courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/cfcc/resources/publications.

    * NCANDS data for 2004 on child deaths showed that physical abuse alone was cited in 28.3 percent of reported fatalities. Most fatalities from physical abuse are caused by fathers and other male caretakers.
    * Most murder-suicides with 3 or more victims involved a "family annihilator" -- a subcategory of intimate partner murder-suicide. Family annihilators are murderers who kill not only their wives/girlfriends and children, but often other family members as well, before killing themselves.
    * 75 percent of murder-suicides occurred in the home.
    * Perpetrators of domestic violence are often more controlling and authoritarian, less consistent, and more likely to manipulate the children and undermine the mothers’ parenting than nonviolent fathers.
    * Research suggests that battered mothers are not significantly different from non-battered mothers in parenting styles on such variables as providing structure, showing warmth, being emotionally available etc.
    * It’s been estimated that approximately 3,300 children lose parents to domestic homicide every year in the U.S.
    * In 121 cases of femicide and attempted-femicide, researchers found that children witnessed 35 percent of the femicides and 62 percent of the attempted-femicides, and discovered the bodies of their mothers in 37 percent of the femicides and 28 percent of the attempted-femicides.
    * Another study noted that children of the victim and/or perpetrator witnessed the murder/suicide, were in the immediate vicinity, found their parents’ bodies, or were killed in 43 percent of the cases studied.


   1. Domestic Violence Death Review Committee Annual Report to the Chief Coroner 2005. Submitted by the DVDRC Chair: Al J.C. O.Marra, B.A., M.A., LL.B., LL.M.
   2. Violence Policy Center (VPC), American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States, April 2006.
   3. Violence Policy Center (VPC), American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States, April 2006.
   4. Bancroft, L., and Silverman, J. (2002). The batterer as parent. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
   5. Van Horn, P., and Lieberman, A. (2002). Domestic violence and parenting: A review of the literature. San Francisco: Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, Center for Families, Children & the Courts.
   6. Lewandowski, L., McFarlane, J., Campbell, J.C., Gary, F., & Barenski, C. (2004). “He killed my mommy!” Murder or attempted murder of a child’s mother. Journal of Family Violence, 19(4), 211-220.
   7. Lewandowski, L., McFarlane, J., Campbell, J.C., Gary, F., & Barenski, C. (2004). “He killed my mommy!” Murder or attempted murder of a child’s mother. Journal of Family Violence, 19(4), 211-220.
   8. Morton, E., Runyan, C.W., Moracco, K.E., Butts, J. “Partner homicide-suicide involving female homicide victims: a population-based study in North Carolina, 1988-1992,” Violence and Victims 13, no. 2 (1998): 91-106.
   9. County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency, The County of San Diego Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team, 2006 Report. Available at http://www2.sdcounty.ca.gov/hhsa/documents/DVFRT2006Report.pdf

    * Since women are 6 times more likely to be victims of domestic violence than men (19 percent vs. 3 percent ), the issue becomes predominantly gender-specific.
    * The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 defines violence against women as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.
    * Violence against women encompasses the following:a. violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation;b. violence occurring within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution; andc. violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs.
    * Violence against women costs companies $72.8 million annually due to lost productivity.
    * According to a 2000 UNICEF study, 20-50 percent of the female population of the world will become the victims of domestic violence.
    * 9 percent of murder victims in 2003 were killed by their spouse or intimate partner. 79 percent of those murder victims were female.
    * On the average, more than 3 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day.
    * According to Violence Policy Center study, 74 percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner (spouse, common-law spouse, ex-spouse, or boyfriend/girlfriend). Of these, 96 percent were females killed by their intimate partners.
    * 94 percent of the offenders in murder-suicides were male.
    * Research suggests that injury related deaths, including homicide and suicide, account for approximately one-third of all maternal mortality cases, while medical reasons make up the rest. But, homicide is the leading cause of death overall for pregnant women, followed by cancer, acute and chronic respiratory conditions, motor vehicle collisions and drug overdose, peripartum and postpartum cardiomyopthy, and suicide.
    * As many as 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy.
    * 1 out of 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime.
    * 92 percent of women say that reducing domestic violence and sexual assault should be at the top of any formal efforts taken on behalf of women today.
    * Ethnic minority groups are exposed to more domestic violence and are more inclined to underreport.
    * Anonymous survey in 2000-2001 revealed that as many as 81.1 percent of Asian women reported experiencing at least one form of intimate partner violence (domination/controlling/psychological, physical, and/or sexual abuse) in the past year.
    * According to Africana Voices Against Violence, the number one killer of African-American women ages 15 to 34 is homicide at the hands of a current or former intimate partner.
    * 2 out of every 5 Hispanic Texas females (39 percent) reported experience severe abuse.


   1. Catalano, Shannan.
   2. (2004).
   3. Criminal Victimization, 2003. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
   4. General Assembly resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993, article 1.
   5. The World’s Women 2005: Progress in Statistics (ST/ESA/STAT/SER.K/17), United Nations Publication, Sales No. E.05.XVII.7, ISBN 92-1-161482-1
   6. Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States. 2003. Center for disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Atlanta, GA.
   7. Sushma Kapoor, Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls. UNICEF: Innocenti Research Centre, June, 2000.
   8. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
   9. (2004). Crime in the United States, 2003.
  10. Washington, DC: FBI, U.S. Department of Justice.
  11. Catalano, Shannan.
  12. (2004).
  13. Criminal Victimization, 2003. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
  14. Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, Intimate Partner Violence, 1993-2001, February 2003.
  15. Violence Policy Center, American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States, May 2006. Available at http://www.vpc.org/press/0605amroul.htm
  16. Violence Policy Center (VPC), American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States, April 2006.
  17. Nannini, A., Weiss, J., Goldstein, R., & Fogerty, S., (2002). Pregnancy-Associated Mortality at the End of the Twentieth Century: Massachusetts, 1990 ??? 1999. Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association, Vol. 57, No. 23, Summer 2002.
  18. Gazmararian JA, Petersen R, Spitz AM, Goodwin MM, Saltzman LE, Marks JS. “Violence and reproductive health; current knowledge and future research directions.” Maternal and Child Health Journal 2000; 4(2):79-84.
  19. Silverman, Jay G., Raj, Anita, and Clements, Karen. “Dating Violence Against Adolescent Girls and Associated Substance Use, Unhealthy Weight Control, Sexual Risk Behavior, Pregnancy, and Suicidality.” Pediatrics, August 2004.
  20. Progress & Perils: New Agenda for Women, Center for the Advancement of Women. June 2003.
  21. Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence, Fact Sheet: Domestic Violence in Asian Communities, 2005, http://www.apiahf.org/apidvinstitute/PDF/Fact_Sheet.pdf
  22. Africana Voices Against Violence, Tufts University, Statistics, 2002, www.ase.tufts.edu/womenscenter/peace/africana/newsite/statistics.htm
  23. Texas Council on Family Violence, Statistics, 2002 http://makethecall.org/texas_stats.htm

If a friend has been sexually assaulted:
1. Validate feelings...BELIEVE THEM!
2.  Encourage medical and police attention immediately.
3. Be a good listener.
4. Be supportive.
5. Respect the privacy of the victim.

If you have been sexually assaulted:
1. Explore your options, it's your decision to report to the police.
2. Do not shower, change your clothes, or brush your teeth.
3. Get medical attention for injuries, possible STD's, and pregnancy.
4. Request a support person, such as an advocate.

    * Male victims are less likely than female victims to report it or consider it a crime, which makes crime data (crime reports or crime-based surveys) unreliable.
    * Every year, 1,510,455 women and 834,732 men are victims of physical violence by an intimate.
    * It means that every 37.8 seconds, somewhere in America a man is battered. Every 20.9 seconds, somewhere in America a woman is battered.
    * Annual physical assault rate—44.2/1000 women, 31.5/1000 men.
    * 0.6 percent of men (and 1.1 percent of married/co-habiting women) are assaulted annually.
    * About twice as many male victims has a knife used on them (10.8 percent to 4.1 percent), were threatened with a knife (21.6 percent to 12.7 percent), or were hit with an object likely to cause harm (43.2 percent to 22.6percent).
    * 59.5 percent of the assaulted men had something thrown at them (vs. 36.7 percent of the assaulted women).
    * Well over half the men (but only 40 percent of the women), were physically assaulted by an adult caretaker as a child.
    * A 32-nation study of 13,601 university dating partners found that about a third had been violent, and most incidents of partner violence involve violence by both the man and woman. Violence by only the male partner was the least frequent pattern according to both male and female participants.
    * A 2007 national survey of 11,000 men and women by Harvard Medical School revealed that 50 percent of the domestic violence was reciprocal, that is, involved both parties, and in those cases the woman was more likely to have been the first to strike.
    * Men were also more likely to be injured in reciprocally violent relationships (25 percent) than were women when the violence was one-sided (20 percent).
    * APA’s President, Gerald Koocher, acknowledges that “males and females in relationships have an equal likelihood of acting out physical aggression, although differing in tactics and potential for causing injury”.


   1. Tjaden, P. G., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full Report of Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Report, Nov. 2000. NCJ 183781
   2. Tjaden, P. G., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full Report of Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Report, Nov. 2000. NCJ 183781
   3. Tjaden, P. G., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full Report of Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Report, Nov. 2000. NCJ 183781
   4. Tjaden, P. G., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full Report of Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Report, Nov. 2000. NCJ 183781
   5. Tjaden, P. G., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full Report of Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Report, Nov. 2000. NCJ 183781
   6. Tjaden, P. G., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full Report of Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Report, Nov. 2000. NCJ 183781
   7. Tjaden, P. G., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full Report of Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research Report, Nov. 2000. NCJ 183781
   8. Straus, M. ( 2007). "Dominance and symmetry in partner violence by male and female university students in 32 nations." Children and Youth Services Review 30:252-275.
   9. Whitaker DJ, et al. (2007). "Differences in Frequency of Violence and Reported Injury between Relationships with Reciprocal and Nonreciprocal Intimate Partner Violence," American Journal of Public Health. May 2007: Vol. 97, No. 5, pp. 941–47.
  10. Whitaker DJ, et al. (2007). "Differences in Frequency of Violence and Reported Injury between Relationships with Reciprocal and Nonreciprocal Intimate Partner Violence," American Journal of Public Health. May 2007: Vol. 97, No. 5, pp. 941–47.
  11. Koocher, G. (2006). Psychological science is not politically correct. Monitor on Psychology, Volume 37, No. 9 October 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2008 from http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct06/pc.html

Myth: She asked for it.
Fact: No one asks to be sexually assaulted under any circumstances.

Myth: Men are not at risk.
Fact: 1 in 12 victims of sexual assault are men, and they are less likely to report.

Myth: Victims lie, they want revenge or attention.
Fact: Less than 2% of ALL reported rapes are false accusations.

# Animal abuse exposes the deliberateness of battering rather than loss of control.
# Animal abuse and child abuse are closely related.
# Animal abuse is often a tool used by batterers to emotionally control or coerce victims.
# Threatening, injuring, or killing animals can indicate the potential for increased violence or lethality.
# Victims may postpone leaving out of fear for their pets' safety.
# Identifying animal abusers can help identify other victims of violence within the family.

    * Family pets are often viewed as family members.
    * 7 of every 10 families with minor children include a pet -- more than 64 million households in total.
    * 55 percent of domestic violence victims and their children report that their pets are very important sources of emotional support, thus violence toward pets may be especially devastating and viewed as another form of family violence.
    * A vast majority of children who witness pet abuse become distressed and emotionally distraught.
    * 33.3 percent of women without children are more likely to postpone seeking shelter out of concern for their pets’ safety as compared to women with children.
    * Many victims, up to 25 percent, report that concern for their pets had affected their decisions about leaving or staying with the batterer. Higher proportions of rural than urban women reported that their partners had threatened or harmed their pets and that concern for their pets had affected their decisions.
    * 13 percent of intentional animal abuse cases involve DV.
    * 76 percent of pet abuse incidents occur in the presence of children.
    * Women in domestic violence shelters are 11 times more likely to report animal abuse by their partner than women who do not experience violence.
    * 85 percent of domestic violence shelters report that they commonly encounter women who speak about pet abuse incidents.
    * 52 percent of victims in domestic violence shelters left their pets with their batterers.
    * Investigation of animal abuse is often the first point of social services intervention for a family experiencing domestic violence.
    * Abusers hurt pets as retaliation for victims’ acts of independence or determination.
    * Until recently, only three states -- Maine, New York and Vermont -- have enacted laws permitting family pets to be included in protective court orders involving cases of domestic violence. Effective January 1, 2008, two more states - California and Illinois - now implement legislation that protects pets from domestic violence.

   1. The Humane Society of the United States. (2007). Family Pet is at Heart of Domestic Violence Situations. Retrieved on May 2, 2008 from http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/pets_domestic_violence.html
   2. Faver, C.A., Strand, E.B. (2003). Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty: Untangling the Web of Abuse. Journal of Social Work Education. 39(2), 237-253.
   3. Ascione, F., Weber, C. et al. (2007). Battered Pets and Domestic Violence: Animal Abuse Reported by Women Experiencing Intimate Violence and By Nonabused Women. Violence Against Women, 13(4), 354-373.
   4. Ascione, F., Weber, C. et al. (2007). Battered Pets and Domestic Violence: Animal Abuse Reported by Women Experiencing Intimate Violence and By Nonabused Women. Violence Against Women, 13(4), 354-373.
   5. Faver, C.A., Strand, E.B. (2003). To Leave or to Stay? Battered Women's Concern for Vulnerable Pets. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Beverly Hills: Dec 2003.Vol.18, Iss. 12; pg. 1367.
   6. The Humane Society of the United States. (2001). 2000 Report of Animal Cruelty cases. Washington, DC.
   7. Faver, C.A., Strand, E.B. (2003). Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty: Untangling the Web of Abuse. Journal of Social Work Education. 39(2), 237-253.
   8. Ascione, F., Weber, C. et al. (2007). Battered Pets and Domestic Violence: Animal Abuse Reported by Women Experiencing Intimate Violence and By Nonabused Women. Violence Against Women, 13(4), 354-373.
   9. Ascione, F., Weber, C. et al. (2007). Battered Pets and Domestic Violence: Animal Abuse Reported by Women Experiencing Intimate Violence and By Nonabused Women. Violence Against Women, 13(4), 354-373.
  10. Ascione, F., Weber, C. et al. (2007). Battered Pets and Domestic Violence: Animal Abuse Reported by Women Experiencing Intimate Violence and By Nonabused Women. Violence Against Women, 13(4), 354-373.
  11. Arkow, P. (2003). Breaking the cycles of violence: A guide to multi-disciplinary interventions. A handbook for child protection, domestic violence and animal protection agencies. Alameda, CA: Latham Foundation.
  12. The Humane Society of the United States. (2007). Animal Cruelty/ Domestic Violence Fact Sheets. http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/
  13. The Humane Society of the United States. (2007). Family Pet is at Heart of Domestic Violence Situations. Retrieved on May 2, 2008 from http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/pets_domestic_violence.html
  14. Domestic Violence Dog Protection Laws Take Effect. (2008). Retrieved on May 7, 2008 from http://www.dogchannel.com/

    * Emotional and psychological types of abuse are more prevalent and more damaging than physical or sexual abuse, according to a 2006 Center for the Advancement of Women research, yet they are more difficult to recognize due to their less tangible nature.
    * 34 percent of women surveyed in 2002 reported being victims of sexual coercion by a husband or a boyfriend in their lifetime, yet many still question whether sexual violence can and does occur in the context of intimate relationships, particularly marriage.
    * Physical violence isn’t rare in intimate relationships either. 10 percent (521,740) of violent crimes in 2003 were committed by the victim's intimate partner.
    * A 2005 nationwide study by the Violence Policy Center (VPC) estimates that nearly 1,200 Americans die each year in murder-suicides. 75 percent of murder-suicides occur in the home.
    * Annually in the United States, 503,485 women are stalked by an intimate partner.
    * The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking and homicide committed by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year. Of that amount, nearly $4.1 billion are for direct medical and mental health care services, and nearly $1.8 billion are for the indirect costs of lost productivity or wages.

      You may be in an emotionally abusive relationship if your partner:
    * Calls you names, insults you or continually criticizes you.
    * Does not trust you and acts jealous or possessive.
    * Tries to isolate you from family or friends.
    * Monitors where you go, who you call and who you spend time with.
    * Does not want you to work.
    * Controls finances or refuses to share money.
    * Punishes you by withholding affection.
    * Expects you to ask permission.
    * Threatens to hurt you, the children, your family or your pets.
    * Humiliates you in any way. BR>
      You may be in a physically abusive relationship if your partner has ever:
    * Damaged property when angry (thrown objects, punched walls, kicked doors, etc.).
    * Pushed, slapped, bitten, kicked or choked you.
    * Abandoned you in a dangerous or unfamiliar place.
    * Scared you by driving recklessly.
    * Used a weapon to threaten or hurt you.
    * Forced you to leave your home.
    * Trapped you in your home or kept you from leaving.
    * Prevented you from calling police or seeking medical attention.
    * Hurt your children.
    * Used physical force in sexual situations.

      You may be in a sexually abusive relationship if your partner:
    * Views women as objects and believes in rigid gender roles.
    * Accuses you of cheating or is often jealous of your outside relationships.
    * Wants you to dress in a sexual way.
    * Insults you in sexual ways or calls you sexual names.
    * Has ever forced or manipulated you into to having sex or performing sexual acts.
    * Held you down during sex.
    * Demanded sex when you were sick, tired or after beating you.
    * Hurt you with weapons or objects during sex.
    * Involved other people in sexual activities with you.
    * Ignored your feelings regarding sex.


   1. Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Center for the Advancement of Women, Violence against Women: A Report of Findings from National Focus Groups with Women and Teen Girls, October 2006.
   2. Kathleen C. Basile, Prevalence of Wife Rape and Other Intimate Partner Sexual Coercion in a Nationally Representative Sample of Women, 17 Violence and Victims 511 (2002).
   3. Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Center for the Advancement of Women, Violence against Women: A Report of Findings from National Focus Groups with Women and Teen Girls, October 2006.
   4. Catalano, Shannan. (2004). Criminal Victimization, 2003. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
   5. Violence Policy Center, American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States, May 2006. Available at http://www.vpc.org/press/0605amroul.htm
   6. Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence, National Institute of Justice, 2000.
   7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States, April 2003.

      GLBT Domestic Violence
    * Similarities between same-sex and opposite-sex relationships: No one deserves to be abused.
    * There is no “typical batterer”.
    * Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional and psychological.
    * Abuse often occurs in a cyclical fashion.
    * Abuse often occurs and is most dangerous when one partner in a relationship seeks to leave.
    * The purpose of the abuse is to maintain control and power over one's partner’s thoughts, beliefs, or conduct.
    * The abused partner feels alone, isolated and afraid, and is usually convinced that the abuse is somehow her or his fault, or could have been avoided if she or he knew what to do.
    * Domestic violence in same-gender/gender-variant couples is believed to be as prevalent and lethal as in heterosexual couples. Differences between same-sex and opposite-sex relationships:
    * Emotional abuse for someone who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual may be “to out” them at work or to family or friends.
    * Local resources for domestic violence in the GLBT community are often scarce and many traditional DV services lack the training, sensitivity, and expertise to address abusive GLBT relationships. According to research, this plays a significant role in gay survivors’ decisions to remain in abusive relationships.
    * A gay individual who is being battered must overcome homophobia and denial of the issue of battering.
    * It is frequently incorrectly assumed that lesbian, bi and gay abuse must be "mutual". It is not often seen as being mutual in heterosexual battering.
    * Victims often believe that in order to use existing services (such as a shelter, attending support groups or calling a crisis line) they must lie or hide the gender of the batterer to be perceived as a heterosexual. Or it can mean "coming out", which is a major life decision.
    * If lesbians, bisexuals and gays come out to service providers who are not discreet with this information, it could lead to the victim losing their home, job, custody of children, etc.
    * GLBT victims are often not as financially tied to their partner, which can be a benefit if they decide to end the relationship. However, if their lives are financially intertwined, such as each paying a rent or mortgage and having "built a home together", they have no legal process to assist in making sure assets are evenly divided.
    * Lesbian, bi and gay survivors of battering may not know others who are lesbian, bi or gay, meaning that leaving the abuser could result in total isolation.
    * The GLBT community within the area may be small, and in all likelihood anonymity is not an option, a characteristic available to many heterosexual survivors.

      General
    * In ten cities and two states alone, there were 3,524 incidents of domestic violence affecting LGBT individuals, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs 2006 Report on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Domestic Violence.
    * Among all the victims reported to NCAVP in 2006, 57 percent (2,050) identified themselves as lesbian or gay. The next highest sexual orientation category was “Unknown” (22 percent). Heterosexual-identified victims made 9 percent of the total reports.
    * LGBT domestic violence is vastly underreported, unacknowledged, and often reported as something other than domestic violence.
    * Delaware, Montana and South Carolina explicitly exclude same-sex survivors of domestic violence from protection under criminal laws. Eighteen states have domestic violence laws that are gender neutral but apply to household members only.
    * 30 states and DC have domestic violence laws that are gender neutral and include household members as well as dating partners.
    * According to the 2006 Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, the largest race/ethnicity categories after “unknown” (31 percent) was white, accounting for 30 percent of the total, Latina/o (19 percent) and African (11 percent) victims.

      Gay Men
    * Men can also be victims of abuse. As the results of a recent (2003) study showed, of 358 males between the ages of 19-35 who identified themselves as either gay or bisexual, 35 percent experienced non-consensual sex, 14 percent were sexually abused as children and the same percentage reported that their first experience of sexual assault occurred when they were 14 years of age or older.
    * Victimization by intimate partners in male same-sex relationships is most commonly experienced by men age 40 and younger.
    * Men infected with the AIDS virus were more at risk for psychological and physical abuse from male partners than their HIV-negative peers.
    * Various studies estimate that partner abuse among gay men ranges from 12-36 percent, which is comparable to the rates of domestic violence among straight women.
    * In 2000, 1,938 (47.9 percent) of the LGBT domestic violence victims reported to NCAVP identified themselves as male (46.8 percent as female).
    * A study of 2800 gay men in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, found that violence between intimate male partners has been "virtually ignored as a public health problem." About 34 percent had suffered psychological/symbolic battering, 22 percent physical battering and 5 percent sexual battering.
    * 39 percent of those studied reported at least one type of battering within the context of intimate homosexual partnerships over the last five years.
    * Figures were also compared with studies on heterosexual women who also had been victims of violence within the context of intimate partnerships. Victimization for homosexual men (22 percent) was substantially higher than for heterosexual women (11.6 percent).
    * The male victims are often faced with challenges such as:
          o society's stigma for not protecting themselves
          o victimization because they fail to conform to the Macho man stereotype
          o being perceived as a wimp
          o not being believed because they are men
          o being denied the status of victim
          o being removed from or asked to leave their homes because it is the easy option
          o no support systems in place.
    * Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project in Massachusetts remains the only safe house program in the United States. They can be contacted by phone (24-hour hotline - 800-832-1901) or e-mail (Client Services at cs@gmdvp.org).
    * 75 percent of gay men in abusive relationships believe that the abuser will get help and can change.
    * 60 percent of gay men in abusive relationships report making 3 or more significant attempts to leave before being able to escape.
    * Almost 90 percent of the survivors report continued abuse after leaving and 58 percent report this abuse as moderate or severe.
    * More than 75 percent of the time it is the abused partner who ends the relationship.

      Gay Women
    * Approximately 50 percent of the lesbian population has experienced or will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes.
    * In 2000, 1,893(46.8 percent) of the LGBT domestic violence victims reported to NCAVP identified themselves as female.
    * In one year, 44 percent of victims in LGBT domestic violence cases identified as men, while 36 percent identified as women.
    * Women living with female intimate partners experience less intimate partner violence than women living with male intimate partners. Slightly more than 11 percent of the women who had lived with a woman as part of a couple reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked by a female cohabitant, but 21.7 percent of the women who had married or lived with a man as part of a couple reported such violence by a husband or male cohabitant.
    * 78 percent of lesbians report that they have either defended themselves or fought back against an abusive partner.
    * In a study with 1,109 individuals who identified as lesbian, slightly more than half of the respondents reported having been abused by a woman partner in their lifetime.

      Bisexual Individuals
    * Among all the victims reported to NCAVP in 2000, 9 percent identified themselves as bisexual.
    * Bisexual victims are likely to be undercounted if the agency from which they seek services constructs the sexual orientation of the victim based on the gender identity of the abusive partner and does not explicitly query victim self- identification.
    * Some individuals who say they are bisexual do so as an alternative to describing themselves as lesbian or gay, or visa versa.
    * It is also likely that some bisexual individuals will try to seek assistance from mainstream service providers, if the domestic violence they experience occurs within the context of an opposite gender relationship. Transgender Individuals
    * 17 out of every 1,000 babies are born intersex in some way. These natural variations in gender have often been surgically and/ or socially obliterated.
    * Specific forms of abuse in relationships where one partner is transgender:
          o using offensive pronouns such as “it” to refer to the transgender partner;
          o ridiculing the transgender partner’s body and/or appearance;
          o telling the transgender partner that he or she is not a real man or woman;
          o ridiculing the transgender partner’s identity as “bisexual,” “trans,” “femme,” “butch,” “gender queer” etc;
          o denying the transgender partner’s access to medical treatment or hormones, or coercing him or her to not pursue medical treatment.
    * In 2000, 3 percent of the LGBT domestic violence victims reported to NCAVP identified themselves as transgender (mostly male to female).
    * Domestic violence shelters are typically female only, thus transgender people may not be allowed entrance into shelters or emergency facilities due to their gender/genital/legal status.
    * The Survivor Project’s 1998 Gender, Violence, and Resource Access Survey of transgender and intersex individuals found that 50 percent of respondents had been raped or assaulted by a romantic partner, though only 62 percent of these individuals (31 percent of the total) identified themselves as survivors of domestic violence when explicitly asked.
    * As the Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs states, almost all organizations in 2006 report a very small sample size of transgender, intersex and self-identified/other categories. It can be attributed to identity terminology differences, as well as an indication of real or perceived levels of accessibility of services or fear of reporting in general.


   1. National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (2007). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) Communities and Domestic Violence: Information and Resources.
   2. GLBT Domestic Violence Coalition and Jane Doe, Inc. (2005). Shelter/Housing Needs for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Victims of Domestic Violence: Analysis of Public Hearing Testimony. October 27, 2005, Massachusetts State House. Boston, MA: Authors.
   3. Lundy (1993). Abuse That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Assisting Victims of Lesbian and Gay Domestic Violence in Massachusetts, 28. New England Law Review 273.
   4. Merrill, G., Wolfe, V. (2000). Battered Gay Men: An Exploration of Abuse, Help Seeking, and Why They Stay. Journal of Homosexuality. Vol. 39(2).
   5. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. (2006) “Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Violence in 2006.” www.ncavp.org
   6. Fountain, K. & Skolnik, A. (2007). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in the United States in 2006: A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. New York, NY: National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.
   7. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. (2006) “Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Violence in 2006.” www.ncavp.org
   8. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. (2005) “Domestic Violence Laws in the U.S.” www.thetaskforce.org
   9. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. (2005) “Domestic Violence Laws in the U.S.” www.thetaskforce.org
  10. Fountain, K. & Skolnik, A. (2007). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in the United States in 2006: A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. New York, NY: National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.
  11. Ratner, P. A., Johnson, J. L., Shoveller, J. A., Chan, K., Martindale, S. L., Schilder, A. J., Botnick, M. R., and Hogg, R. S. (2003). "Non-Consensual Sex Experienced by Men who Have Sex with Men: Prevalence and Association with Mental Health." Patient Education and Counseling, 49, 67-74.
  12. Greenwood, G. et al (2002). Battering Victimization Among a Probability-Based Sample of Men Who Have Sex With Men. American Journal of Public Health, December 2002, Vol 92, No. 12.
  13. Greenwood, G. et al (2002). Battering Victimization Among a Probability-Based Sample of Men Who Have Sex With Men. American Journal of Public Health, December 2002, Vol 92, No. 12.
  14. Greenwood, G. et al (2002). Battering Victimization Among a Probability-Based Sample of Men Who Have Sex With Men. American Journal of Public Health, December 2002, Vol 92, No. 12.
  15. A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (2001). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in 2000. Retrieved on April 9, 2008 from http://www.avp.org/publications/reports/2000ncavpdvrpt.pdf
  16. Greenwood, G. et al (2002). Battering Victimization Among a Probability-Based Sample of Men Who Have Sex With Men. American Journal of Public Health, December 2002, Vol 92, No. 12.
  17. Greenwood, G. et al (2002). Battering Victimization Among a Probability-Based Sample of Men Who Have Sex With Men. American Journal of Public Health, December 2002, Vol 92, No. 12.
  18. Greenwood, G. et al (2002). Battering Victimization Among a Probability-Based Sample of Men Who Have Sex With Men. American Journal of Public Health, December 2002, Vol 92, No. 12.
  19. Male Victims: Domestic Violence / Sexual Assault Resource Sheet. FORGE: For Ourselves: Reworking Gender Expression. Retrieved on April 6, 2008 from http://www.forge-forward.org/handouts/MaleVictims.pdf.
  20. Mishra, R. (2002). A Need for Shelter Havens Elude Many Victims of Gay Domestic Violence. Globe Staff Date: December 18, 2002 Page: A1 Section: National/Foreign. Retrieved on April 6, 2008 from http://www.familyallies.net/documents/doc_gaydv.pdf
  21. Merrill, G., Wolfe, V. (2000). Battered Gay Men: An Exploration of Abuse, Help Seeking, and Why They Stay. Journal of Homosexuality. Vol. 39(2).
  22. Merrill, G., Wolfe, V. (2000). Battered Gay Men: An Exploration of Abuse, Help Seeking, and Why They Stay. Journal of Homosexuality. Vol. 39(2).
  23. Merrill, G., Wolfe, V. (2000). Battered Gay Men: An Exploration of Abuse, Help Seeking, and Why They Stay. Journal of Homosexuality. Vol. 39(2).
  24. Merrill, G., Wolfe, V. (2000). Battered Gay Men: An Exploration of Abuse, Help Seeking, and Why They Stay. Journal of Homosexuality. Vol. 39(2).
  25. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. (2006) “Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Violence in 2006.” www.ncavp.org
  26. A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (2001). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in 2000. Retrieved on April 9, 2008 from http://www.avp.org/publications/reports/2000ncavpdvrpt.pdf
  27. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. (2006) “Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Violence in 2006.” www.ncavp.org
  28. Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (July 2000). Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence - Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. (Publication #NCJ181867). National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs.
  29. Renzetti,C.M. (1992). “Violent betrayal: Partner abuse in lesbian relationships.” Violence Against Women. Sage Publications.
  30. Lie, G. & Gentlewarrior, S. (1991). Intimate violence in lesbian relationships: Discussion of survey findings and practice implications. Journal of Social Service Research, 15(1&2), 47.
  31. A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (2001). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in 2000. Retrieved on April 9, 2008 from http://www.avp.org/publications/reports/2000ncavpdvrpt.pdf
  32. Fountain, K. & Skolnik, A. (2007). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in the United States in 2006: A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. New York, NY: National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.
  33. A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (2001). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in 2000. Retrieved on April 9, 2008 from http://www.avp.org/publications/reports/2000ncavpdvrpt.pdf
  34. A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (2001). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in 2000. Retrieved on April 9, 2008 from http://www.avp.org/publications/reports/2000ncavpdvrpt.pdf
  35. Fausto-Sterlinge, A. (2000). The Five Sexes, Revisited. Retrieved April,6 2008 from http://www.vcsun.org/~jaynepsy/AnneFausto-Sterling.htm
  36. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. (2006) “Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Violence in 2006.” www.ncavp.org
  37. A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (2001). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in 2000. Retrieved on April 9, 2008 from http://www.avp.org/publications/reports/2000ncavpdvrpt.pdf
  38. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. (2006) “Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Violence in 2006.” www.ncavp.org
  39. Courvant, D. & Cook-Daniels, L.(1998). Trans and Intersex Survivors of Domestic Violence: Defining Terms, Barriers and Responsibilities. Portland, OR: Survivors Project.
  40. Fountain, K. & Skolnik, A. (2007). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in the United States in 2006: A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. New York, NY: National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.

 Statistics:

    * Every 45 seconds, a woman is raped.
    * Every 9 seconds a woman is battered.
    * 80% of rapes are perpetrated by someone the victim knows.
    * 42% of rape victims tell NO ONE about the assault.
    * 30% of 911 domestic violence calls in the City of San Diego come from children.
    * Relationship violence is the #1 cause of injury to women ages 15-44; more than rapes, muggings, and car accidents combined.
    * 1,247 women and 440 men were killed by an intimate partner in the year 2000.

    * 1 in 5 female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. Abused girls are significantly more likely to get involved in other risky behaviors. They are 4 to 6 times more likely to get pregnant and 8 to 9 times more likely to have tried to commit suicide.

    * 1 in 3 teens report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, slapped, choked or physically hurt by his/her partner.

      Does your boyfriend/girlfriend:
    * Have a history of bad relationships or past violence; always blames his/her problems on other people; or blames you for “making” him/her treat you badly?

    * Try to use drugs or alcohol to coerce you or get you alone when you don’t want to be?

    * Try to control you by being bossy, not taking your opinion seriously or making all of the decisions about who you see, what you wear, what you do, etc.?

    * Talk negatively about people in sexual ways or talk about sex like it’s a game or contest?

      Do you:
    * Feel less confident about yourself when you’re with him/her?
    * Feel scared or worried about doing or saying “the wrong thing?”
    * Find yourself changing your behavior out of fear or to avoid a fight?


   1. Teenage Research Unlimited. Findings from study commissioned by Liz Claiborne Inc. to investigate the level of and attitudes towards dating abuse among American teenagers aged 13 to 18 [online] 2005 Feb [cited 2006 Mar 20]. Available from: URL: www.loveisnotabuse.com/statistics_abuseandteens.htm