Over the past few years there has been increased research on domestic violence and its impact on different groups, especially women and children. Despite ongoing debate on the scale, nature and causes of such violence, it is clear it has become an increasingly important issue not just for families but for society as a whole.

Domestic violence is most often equated with battered wives or girlfriends, but it is so much more than that. It is not about the relationship. It is about power. Control. The ability to make someone do something or to cower in a corner when they are guilty of a perceived wrong.

Domestic violence can happen between anyone. A child and an adult. Partners who are supposed to love and protect each other. 

While violence is often associated with a punch or a kick, domestic violence is often more subtle. It may be a sharp word instead of a slap. It may be the choking grip of emotional abuse. It can be sexual or mental. It can be about blame for the abuser’s faults or making the victim feel incapable to do anything. 

In a document dated June 16th 2017, the United States Department of Justice stated that Domestic Violence  has a significant impact not only on those abused, but also on family members, friends, and on the people within the social networks of both the abuser and the victim according to Frontiers in Physiology. 

 Domestic violence is not simply an argument. It is a pattern of control that one person exercises over another. Abusers use physical and sexual violence, threats, emotional insults and economic deprivation as a way to dominate their victims and get their way. 

Many forms of verbal and physical abuse appear relatively harmless at first, but expand and grow more menacing over time, sometimes gradually and subtly. 

Children who witness domestic violence may develop serious emotional, behavioral, developmental or academic problems. As they develop, children and teens who grow up with domestic violence in the household are: more likely to use violence at school or community in response to perceived threats, more likely to attempt suicide, more likely to use drugs, more likely to commit crimes, especially sexual assault, more likely to use violence to enhance their reputation and self esteem, and are more likely to become abusers in later life. 

Unplanned pregnancies are significantly more common among wives of abusive men. Besides this, research has shown that battered women are subject to twice the risk of miscarriage and four times the risk of having a baby that is below average weight. In some places, violence also accounts for a sizable portion of maternal deaths. 

Domestic Violence has enormous health and social consequences. Domestic Violence results in many deaths everyday.  Talking about it openly will help the shame and stigma that domestic violence ans sexual assault survivors are burdened with.  As a society we need to offer more resources and support for victims.