Domestic Violence?
Domestic violence, often used interchangeably with ‘intimate partner violence’ or ‘family violence’, is an exercise of power by one intimate partner or family member over another through harmful behaviour intended to control them. It can occur in various types of relationships, including marriage, common-law, or dating relationships, as well as between family members. Domestic violence can be a single, isolated occurrence, or it can include a pattern of behaviour. It can happen at any point in time during a relationship and often continues even after the end of a relationship.
The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies intimate partner violence (IPV) as a major global public health concern. It is a widespread issue with serious short and long-term health, social, and economic consequences for victims, their families, and communities. Domestic violence affects people of all identities, though the impacts are greater for some. In the majority of cases, women are victims of domestic violence and men are perpetrators, though not always. Individuals identifying as Indigenous, 2SLGBTQIA+, racialized, living with a disability, new to Canada, elderly, or low-income are more likely to experience domestic violence than those who do not.
Types of Domestic Violence
Domestic violence can take many forms, all of which are intended to negatively affect a victim’s sense of self-esteem and autonomy. By doing so, an abuser can keep a victim under their control, isolated, and fearful of reaching out for help.
Any form of domestic violence is a serious issue, both for those who experience it and those who witness it. Services for domestic violence in New Brunswick, including transition houses, second stage housing, and domestic violence outreach workers, are available to help regardless of the type of violence, level of danger, or degree of severity that a survivor identifies with.
Physical violence
Physical violence is any physically aggressive behaviour, including intimidation, threats of physical aggression, and use of a weapon(s).
Examples include, but are not limited to: Hitting, slapping, punching, beating, kicking, throwing, pushing, pulling, shoving, shaking, biting, scratching, cutting, and choking.
Physical intimidation means doing any of these things to objects to make you fearful.
Sexual violence
Sexual violence is any sexual behaviour to control, exploit, or harm or intend to harm another person.
Examples include but are not limited to: using guilt, manipulation, threats, or coercion to get you to participate in a sexual act, carrying out sexual acts without obtaining your consent each time, forcing you to engage in unwanted sexual activity with them or others (for example, watching or making pornography, prostitution), controlling your choices to use birth control or become pregnant, controlling your access to sexual or reproductive healthcare, using words that are intended to attack, degrade, or belittle your body, sexual preferences, or sexual behaviour, and sexually harassing you, which is when a person says or does things that are sexual in nature even though they should reasonably know that it is inappropriate and despite you telling them to stop.
Sexual violence can also include sexual behaviour, with or without consent, that is directed towards vulnerable persons (for example, children, seniors, persons with disabilities) by an adult or adolescent. If you suspect this is happening to you or someone you know, please call Child Protection or Adult Protection.
Emotional violence
Emotional violence is any behaviour, including language, used to harm another person's character and self-worth, or that exploits their vulnerabilities and insecurities.
Examples include but are not limited to: Continuous insults, name-calling, belittling, and criticism, as well as behaviors causing you to feel ashamed, embarrassing or humiliating you publicly.
This may also include actual or threatened rejection, refusing to speak to you, harming your loved ones or pets to hurt you, and damaging your property or personal belongings to hurt you.
Other examples include yelling, screaming, shouting, swearing, rampaging, and terrorizing.
Psychological violence
Psychological violence is any harmful behaviour that is intended to manipulate your thoughts, feelings, or actions, including coercive control and criminal harassment, also known as stalking.
Examples include but are not limited to: Causing you to feel fearful or unsafe, influencing your behaviour through the use of force or threats, threatening to harm or kill themselves, you, your loved ones, or your pets, threatening to take away your children, threatening to damage property, threatening to humiliate you or ruin your reputation, gaslighting you by making you doubt reality or question your mental stability, denying that the violence ever happened or saying you made it up, using a mental health struggle or diagnosis to undermine your credibility, blaming you for the violence or making you believe its your fault, isolating you from your friends, family, and social activities, acting extremely jealous of your other relationships, needing to constantly know who you are with and where you are, repeatedly following, watching, or tracking you, harassing you with phone calls, texts, emails, or other forms of electronic messages, needing you to respond at all times even when busy, leaving unwanted things for you to find, and preventing you from leaving the relationship or moving on.
Financial violence
Financial violence, also called economic violence, is any behaviour that uses financial resources, such as money, assets, or property, as a way of controlling another person.
Examples include but are not limited to: Stealing from you, keeping you from getting a job or going to school, withholding basic needs from you, controlling your money (for example, giving you an allowance, not allowing you to have a credit card), not involving you in financial decisions or matters (for example, you’re not allowed to know about or do the household banking), and keeping you dependent on them.
It can also include spending money for necessities on nonessentials (for example, drugs, alcohol, gambling, or hobbies) and keeping financial secrets (for example, significant debt or hidden accounts).
Spiritual violence
Spiritual violence is any behaviour that dismisses or exploits a person’s spirituality or religion.
Examples include but are not limited to: Mocking your spiritual or religious beliefs or practices, not allowing you to practice your spirituality or religion, keeping you from engaging with your spiritual or religious community, forcing you to take on their beliefs and practices, using spirituality or religion to manipulate you, and using spirituality or religion to justify abuse.
Cultural violence
Cultural violence is any behaviour that dismisses or exploits a person’s culture or immigration status.
Examples include but are not limited to: Mocking your cultural beliefs or practices, not allowing you to practice your culture, keeping you from engaging with your community, forcing you to take on their beliefs and practices, taking advantage of your different cultural background or of you being a newcomer, interfering with your immigration status, and using your immigration status to control you or keep you isolated.
Technology-facilitated violence
Technology-facilitated violence, also called cyber violence, is the misuse of technology to control and cause harm to another person.
Examples include but are not limited to: Observing you, listening to you, and tracking your location through your devices, monitoring your internet and phone history, controlling your internet, computer, tablet, or phone usage, forcing you to share your passwords, sending you hurtful messages through any platform, harassing you with calls and messages, and threatening to humiliate you by revealing private or damaging information unless you do what they want.
Please note that while these are all forms of domestic and intimate partner violence, they can also occur outside of an intimate or family relationship, with someone known or unknown to you. In this case, they are examples of gender-based violence, which is violence on the basis of gender, gender identity, gender expression, or perceived gender, regardless of the relationship to the victim.