I understand that abuse occurs when someone does not respect another’s boundaries; uses power, tricks, threats, or violence to cross or change another’s boundaries; or inflicts hurtful or unwanted behavior (physical, verbal, emotional, or sexual) on another person.
I understand that abuse can take many forms including the following:
Emotional abuse: Putting down the person, making the person feel bad about him/her.
Force and threats: Making or carrying our threats to do something physically hurtful, threatening or expose embarrassing secrets; destroying one’s property, using money or gifts as a bribe in return for sexual favors.
Sexual abuse: Forcing a person to engage in sexual acts against her or his will, physically attacking the sexual parts of one’s body, and treating a person like a sexual object.
Isolation: Efforts to control who a person sees or talks to.
Blaming, Denying: Refusing to accept responsibility for abusive behavior, blaming the victim for causing the abuse.
Intimidation: Acts designed to frighten a person such as frightening gestures, displaying weapons, mashing objects.