Resources

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Domestic violence is everyone’s responsibility. It is a gendered crime – with an unequal impact on girls and women. Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behavior in a relationship used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over the other partner. Domestic violence can be actions or threats of actions that influence or control another person’s behavior and decisions and are meant to intimidate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, coerce, blame, or injure.

Sexual violence violates a person's trust, autonomy and feeling of safety.

It occurs any time a person is forced, coerced, and/or manipulated into any unwanted sexual activity.

The range of sexual violence includes rape, incest, child sexual assault, ritual abuse, date and acquaintance rape, statutory rape, marital or partner rape, sexual exploitation, sexual contact, sexual harassment, exposure, human trafficking and voyeurism.

Rape is a crime. It is motivated by the need to control, humiliate, and harm. It is not motivated by sexual desire. Rapists use sex as a weapon to dominate and hurt others.

Dating violence is a pattern of abusive behaviors -- usually a series of abusive behaviors over a course of time -- used to exert power and control over a dating partner. Every relationship is different, but the things that unhealthy and abusive relationships have in common are issues of power and control. Violent words and actions are tools an abusive partner uses to gain and maintain power and control over their partner. 

Any person can experience dating abuse or unhealthy relationship behaviors, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic standing, ethnicity, religion or culture. It does not discriminate and can happen to anyone in any relationship, whether it’s one that is casual and short-term or serious and monogamous.

 Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Human trafficking is a hidden crime as victims rarely come forward to seek help because of language barriers, fear of the traffickers, and/or fear of law enforcement. 

 While legal definitions of stalking vary from one jurisdiction to another, a good working definition of stalking, provided by the Stalking Resource center, is a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. Stalking is serious, often violent, and can escalate over time.  You are not to blame for a stalker's behavior. 

 Primary prevention efforts are approaches that take place before violence occurs to prevent initial perpetration or victimization. We know from our experience with other public health issues that primary prevention strategies work.  (CDC, 2004).