South Ayrshire Multi Agency Partnership
Information For Women
What is Domestic Abuse?
Domestic abuse (as gender based abuse), can be perpetrated by partners or ex-partners
and can include physical abuse (assault and physical attack involving a range of
behaviour), sexual abuse (acts which degrade and humiliate women and are perpetrated
against their will, including rape), and mental and emotional abuse (such as threats,
verbal abuse, racial abuse, withholding money and other types of controlling behaviour
such as isolation from family and friends).
National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland
Domestic abuse is the physical, mental and/or sexual abuse of a woman by someone
with whom she is or has been in a relationship. Domestic abuse also affects children
and there are links between domestic abuse and all forms of child abuse.
Physical abuse can include slapping, punching, strangling, using
weapons, scalding, burning.
Emotional abuse can include humiliation and degradation, keeping
the woman from contact with her family and friends, threats against the woman or
her children, name-calling.
Sexual abuse can include being forced to take part in sexual acts
against her will, being sexually assaulted with objects, being raped.
Any woman can experience Domestic Abuse.
There is no such thing as a "typical" abused woman. Women's Aid groups support
women of all age ranges, from young teenage women to women in their 80's. Women
who experience Domestic Abuse come from all different kinds of backgrounds and sections
of society. Research shows that 1 in 4 women experience abuse at some time in their
lives. In Scotland, in 2000-2001, Women's Aid groups received almost 60,000 requests
for help.
Every year, women tell us of the abusive acts that they experience:
- being kicked or hit with fists or objects
- being threatened
- being humiliated
- being forced to have sex
- having their children threatened or abused
- being falsely blamed for causing the abuse
- having their possessions deliberately destroyed or damaged
- being deliberately kept short of money
- having mind games played upon them
- being accused of being unfaithful
- having their beliefs ridiculed
- being isolated from their family and friends
- having further control and harassment through contact arrangements with children
- having their passport withheld and being threatened with deportation
Women explain how their experience of abuse makes them feel:
- frightened and vulnerable
- humiliated and degraded
- confused and unable to think clearly or make decisions
- isolated, lonely and trapped
- angry and resentful
You are entitled to a life free from abuse. No-one deserves to be abused, so
it is not your fault in any way, no matter what excuses or reasons your partner
may use to shift the blame for his actions on to you or someone else.