Family and Domestic Violence (F&DV)

What is Family and Domestic Violence?

Family and domestic violence is a pattern of coercion (bullying/ intimidating) and control that one person exercises over another to dominate and get their way.

It is behaviour that can physically harm, create and instil fear, denigrate and deny access to basic needs and rights, prevent a person from doing what they want, or compel them to behave in ways they do not freely choose.

Most frequently, family and domestic violence is perpetrated by men against their female intimate partners and their children.

What forms can Family and Domestic Violence take?

Physical violence - any behaviour that is intended to cause harm or injury such as pushing, slapping, punching, choking and kicking.

Sexualised violence – any behaviour or action that pressures you to do anything sexually you don’t want to do such as unwanted kissing or touching, unwanted rough or violent sexual activity, rape or attempted rape, refusing to use condoms or restricting your access to birth control, pressuring you or forcing you to perform sexual acts, using sexual insults to you.

Emotional and psychological violence – any behaviour that demeans, hurts or degrades another person including threats, put-downs, insults, shouting, mind games, manipulation, humiliation, and making the person feel worthless or no good, damaging property, throwing things, punching walls, threatening to commit suicide, threatening to have your children taken away. 

Social control and abuse – any behaviour that seeks to isolate someone from their friends and family, disrupt their social relationships, or control their participation in the community.

Financial control and abuse – any behaviour that takes away a person’s control of, and decision making capacity related to, their money and finances including outright stealing. Includes denying access to basic needs, forbidding you to work or limiting the hours you do, giving you an allowance and closely watching what you buy.

Cultural or spiritual violence – any behaviour that controls or disrupts a person’s participation in cultural or spiritual practices such as keeping someone away from country, stopping them from speaking their first language, limiting access to places of worship or forcing them to participate practices that they do not want to be involved with.

Technology facilitated violence – using technology to facilitate any of the types of violence described above such as tracking a person’s movements, or who they are in contact with, disseminating intimate images to demean and humiliate them, pressures you to send explicit texts and images, tells you who you can or can’t be friends with on social media sites.