Feminist Peace Network

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  I’m not particularly a fan of the term “domestic violence”–there really isn’t anything domestic about this violence that goes on behind closed doors. In other countries and cultures this violence manifests itself in many different ways.  But whether you call it bride burning, or honor killing, rape or murder, women’s bodies are being used to assert power, control and honor.  Throughout the month we will be spotlighting the impact of this horrendous kind of violence throughout the world.   Today we start with a look at the enormous scope of the problem in this country.

Every year numerous articles appear suggesting that domestic violence is a feminist conspiracy (and in fact as I write this update, this blog is being pummeled with comments by the men’s rights folks). Unfortunately, as the statistics below clearly show, the facts say otherwise.

In the year 2001, more than half a million American women (588,490 women) were victims of nonfatal violence committed by an intimate partner.
Intimate partner violence is primarily a crime against women. In 2001, women accounted for 85 percent of the victims of intimate partner violence (588,490 total) and men accounted for approximately 15 percent of the victims (103,220 total).

Health Implications of Domestic Violence:

• Pregnant women who are abused run twice the risk of  miscarriage and four times the risk of having a baby  that is below average weight.
• Emerging studies show a strong relationship between  domestic violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS in the  developing world.
• Research consistently show that intimate partner violence against women has serious consequences for maternal mortality and child survival.
• The costs of intimate partner violence exceed $5.8 billion each year, $4.1 billion of which is for direct medical and mental health care services.
• Homicide is a leading cause of traumatic death for pregnant and postpartum women in the United States, accounting for 31 percent of maternal injury deaths.
• Each year, about 324,000 pregnant women in this country are battered by their intimate partners.  That makes abuse is more common for pregnant women than gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia — conditions for which pregnant women are routinely screened.  However, few physicians screen pregnant patients for abuse.

LGBT Statistics:

• Gay and bisexual men experience abuse in intimate partner relationships at a rate of 2 in 5, which is comparable to the amount of domestic violence experienced by heterosexual women.
• Approximately 50% of the lesbian population has experienced or will experience domestic violence in their  lifetimes.
• In one year, 44% of victims in LGBT domestic violence cases identified as men, while 36% identified as women.
• 78% of lesbians report that they have either defended themselves or fought back against an abusive partner.
• 18% of this group described their behavior as self-defense or “trading blow for blow or insult for insult.”

The Impact of Domestic Violence In Immigrant Communities:

• A recent study in New York City found that 51 percent of intimate partner homicide victims were foreign-born, while 45 percent were born in the United States.
• Forty-eight percent of Latinas in one study reported that their partner’s violence against them had increased since they immigrated to the United States.
• A survey of immigrant Korean women found that 60 percent had been battered by their husbands.
• Married immigrant women experience higher levels of physical and sexual abuse than unmarried immigrant women, 59.5 percent compared to 49.8 percent, respectively.
• Abusers often use their partners’ immigration status as a tool of control.
  In such situations, it is common for a batterer to exert control over his partner’s immigration status in order to force her to remain in the relationship.
• Immigrant women often suffer higher rates of battering than U.S. citizens because they may come from cultures that accept domestic violence or because they have less access to legal and social services than U.S. citizens.  Additionally, immigrant batterers and victims may believe that the penalties and protections of the U.S. legal system do not apply to them.
• Battered immigrant women who attempt to flee may not have access to bilingual shelters, financial assistance, or food.  It is also unlikely that they will have the assistance of a certified interpreter in court, when reporting complaints to the police or a 911 operator, or even in acquiring information about their rights and the legal system.

Native American Statistics:

• American Indians experience per capita rates of violence that are more than twice that of the U.S. resident population.
• One out of three American Indian and Alaskan Native women are raped in their lifetime, compared to about one in five women in the nation as a whole.
• 70% of American Indians who are the victims of violent crimes are victimized by a non-native individual.
• 17% of American Indian women – at least twice that of other groups – are stalked each year.
• In one study of tribal jurisdictions between 1996 and 2001, 70% of orders of protection filed by prosecutors on behalf of American Indian women were violated.

Stalking:

• Seventy-eight percent of stalking victims are women. Women are significantly more likely than men (60 percent and 30 percent, respectively) to be stalked by intimate partners.
• Eighty percent of women who are stalked by former husbands are physically assaulted by that partner and 30 percent are sexually assaulted by that partner.
• Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend per year1 to three million women who are physically abused by their husband or boyfriend per year.
• Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime.

Domestic Violence Affects Men Too:

• One out of fourteen men has been physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabitating partner, boyfriend/girlfriend or date at some point in
  their lives.
• It is estimated that 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually.
• In terms of victimization, intimate partner violence against men is overwhelming committed in same-sex relationships rather than in heterosexual relationships.
• 16% of adult men who reported being raped and/or physically assaulted were assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabitating partner, boyfriend/girlfriend or date.
• 40% of gay and bisexual men will experience abuse at the hands of an intimate partner.
• In the National Violence Against Women Survey, 66% of men surveyed in the National Violence Against Women Survey said that they were physically assaulted as a child by an adult 386% of adult men who were physically assaulted were physically assaulted by a man.
• 70% of adult men who were raped were raped by a man.

The above statistics are from the and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) Family Violence Prevention Fund.
You can find additional statistics here:

• American Bar Association
• Department of Justice

For more information on Domestic Abuse or to get help, contact:

• The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE
• The National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE
• Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network