Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-228-7395
Our 24 hour hotline can be dialed free from anywhere in Vermont. For a list of domestic and sexual violence Program in your area, click here.
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What is Domestic Violence or Domestic Abuse?
Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behavior used by one person to gain and maintain power and control over another individual.
Domestic abuse usually occurs between intimate partners or ex-partners. Tactics may include physical, sexual, emotional and economic abuse, isolation, coercion and threats. Incidents of domestic abuse do not happen only once. Men who batter use tactics to manipulate their victims over and over again. The abuse impacts every aspect of the victim’s life; psychologically, physically, socially, and economically. It also has long-lasting effects on the family and community.
In heterosexual relationships, the majority of victims of domestic abuse are women abused by men. In same-sex relationships, perpetrators appear to be non-gendered; both men and women are abusive at similar rates. Regardless of this, we know that domestic violence does not discriminate. Anyone can become a victim of domestic violence, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, culture, class, economic status, ability, education or any other defining factor.
Domestic violence is NOT CAUSED by, or symptomatic of, substance abuse, skills deficit, or mental health issues (although those things can be co-occurring).
Perpetrators CHOOSE to be abusive. It is a learned behavior, rooted in an abuser’s beliefs that support an inflated sense of entitlement.
Over time, abuse often ESCALATES in severity, continues after the end of the relationship and too many times, leads to homicide.
To see examples of abusive tactics on the Power and Control Wheel, click here.
