Domestic abuse, encompassing various forms of violence and control within intimate relationships, is a multifaceted phenomenon with roots that extend beyond individual behaviour. It involves a pattern of coercive behaviours used by one partner to maintain power and control over another, often resulting in severe consequences for the victim’s well-being.
While the dynamics of abuse can vary widely, ranging from physical violence to emotional manipulation, understanding the underlying factors contributing to abusive behaviour is essential for developing effective prevention and intervention strategies.
1. Need for Power and Control – Central to Domestic Violence is the perpetrator’s desire to exert power and control over their partner. This need often stems from feelings of powerlessness in other areas of their life, leading them to seek control in their intimate relationships as a way to compensate.
2. Learned Behaviour – Many perpetrators have learned violent behaviours from their family of origin, community, or societal norms that condone or excuse aggression and control over others. They may have witnessed DV in their own family or have been victims of abuse themselves.
3. Cultural and Societal Influences – Societal structures and cultural norms can play a significant role in perpetuating DV. These influences may include patriarchal beliefs that endorse male dominance over women, societal acceptance of violence as a means of resolving conflict, or lack of legal consequences for abusive behaviour.
4. Personal Insecurities – Insecurities, jealousy, and low self-esteem can drive perpetrators to control their partners. They might fear abandonment or feel inadequate, using violence and coercion to keep their partner from leaving.
5. Stress and External Pressures – While not excuses for violence, external pressures such as financial stress, employment issues, or substance abuse can exacerbate tendencies toward DV. Perpetrators may wrongly justify their abusive behaviour as a reaction to stress.
The Power and Control Wheel
Developed by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP), the Power and Control Wheel illustrates the various tactics DV perpetrators use to exert control over their victims:
1. Coercion and Threats – Making and/or carrying out threats to do something to harm the victim, threatening to leave, to commit suicide, or to report them to welfare.
2. Intimidation – Making the victim afraid by using looks, actions, gestures; smashing things; destroying property; abusing pets; displaying weapons.
3. Emotional Abuse – Putting the victim down; making them feel bad about themselves; calling them names; making them think they’re crazy; playing mind games; humiliation; guilt-tripping.
4. Isolation – Controlling what the victim does, who they see and talk to, what they read, and where they go; limiting outside involvement; using jealousy to justify actions.
5. Minimising, Denying, and Blaming – Making light of the abuse and not taking concerns about it seriously; saying the abuse didn’t happen; shifting responsibility for abusive behaviour; saying the victim caused the abuse.
6. Using Children – Making the victim feel guilty about the children; using the children to relay messages; using visitation to harass the victim; threatening to take the children away.
7. Economic Abuse – Preventing the victim from getting or keeping a job; making them ask for money; giving them an allowance; taking their money; not letting them know about or have access to family income.
8. Male Privilege – Treating the victim like a servant; making all the big decisions; acting like the “master of the castle”; defining men’s and women’s roles.
