According to the Women’s Issues and Social Empowerment (WISE) of Australia, the issues of power and control are essential to an understanding of Domestic Violence. “Domestic Abuse occurs in relationships where conflict is the continuous result of power inequality between the partners and one partner is afraid of, and harmed by the other,” they say.
Although it can vary from case to case, and doesn’t take into account other forms of domestic abuse, WISE uses the “Cycle of Violence” as a model for understanding violent behavior. A simplified version of the cycle are on this page, but briefly they are:
- Build-Up Phase – The tension builds.
- Stand-Over Phase – Verbal attacks increase.
- Explosion Phase – A violent outburst occurs.
- Remorse Phase – You shouldn’t have pushed me, it was your fault!
- Pursuit Phase – It will never happen again, I promise.
- Honeymoon Phase – See, we don’t have any problems!
This cycle concerns actual physical abuse. It does not take into account other forms of domestic abuse that are used to control, such as sexual abuse, verbal abuse, psychological and emotional abuse, spiritual abuse, economic abuse and social abuse.
Thanks for your post. It’s so important that people continue to shed light on the issue of abuse. Seeing it in the news allows people to recognize that there are no lines and that it is happening in their own backyards. Our latest blog discusses this very issue and the ignorance that surrounds it. http://womenspeakout.wordpress.com/