DOMESTIC VIOLENCE  Why is it hard to leave? Warning Signs Your Personal Safety Plan Legal Process  Facts about Domestic Violence    Resources WHAT IS BATTERING? Battering is a pattern of behavior used to establish power and control over another person; through fear and intimidation, often including the threat of or use of violence.  Battering happens when one person believes they are entitled to control another person. Assault, battering, and domestic violence are crimes! Definition: Abuse of family members or romantic partners can take many forms.  Battering may include emotional, economic, physical, and/or sexual abuse, manipulation, isolation, and a variety of other behaviors used to maintain fear, intimidation, and power.  In all cultures, the perpetrators are most commonly male.  Women are most commonly the victims of domestic violence.  Elder and child abuse are also prevalent.  Abuse also occurs in gay and lesbian relationships.  The key to abuse is that one partner exerts control over the other. ACTS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE CAN BE PUT INTO THE FOLLOWING THREE CATEGORIES: Physical Battering: The abuser's physical attacks or aggressive behavior can range from bruising to murder.  It often begins with what is excused as trivial contacts which can escalate into more frequent and serious attacks. Sexual Abuse: Physical attacks by the abuser can be accompanied by, or can culminate in, sexual violence, including any forced sexual activity. Psychological Abuse: This form of abuse can include verbal abuse, harassment, excessive possessiveness, isolation from friends and family, deprivation of physical and economic resources, and destruction of personal property. Escalating Violence: Abuse often begins with name calling, violence in their partner's presence (like punching a fist through a wall), damage to objects or pets, and threats.  It may escalate to restraining, pushing, and/or slapping.  The battering may also include punching, kicking, biting, and sexual assault.  Finally, it may become life threatening with behaviors such as choking, breaking bones, hitting with objects, or the use of weapons. "The physical abuse escalated during my marriage.  It got more frequent and serious over time and so did my feelings of guilt, of shame about it, of dependence on the relationship.  I remember a desperate desire to just be a better person so he wouldn't beat me." ~ a battered woman, Latah County, ID