What is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence is any incident(s) of controlling, coercive, threatening, violent or abusive behaviour. Domestic violence is most commonly carried out by a romantic partner or ex-partner. However, domestic violence also includes the behaviour of family members, carers, child-on-parent abuse and sibling-on-sibling abuse. A person of any age, gender, sex, social class, religion, sexuality can experience domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse can take many forms including physical abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, financial abuse and sexual abuse. More information can be found regarding the types of domestic abuse on the women’s aid website.