In 2023, 1 in 3 women have experience intimate partner violence (either physical or sexual abuse) at least once in her lifetime and 1 in 10 have survived it in the last year, this also represents EU countries. I start off with this statistic because violence against women and girls continues to remain a silent global epidemic, which goes beyond intimate relationships as we will explore soon. Violence against women and girls is one of the most common and rising human rights violation committed every single day across the world. November 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, where we bring awareness regarding this ongoing epidemic that so many still experience and advocate for their safety.
There are several forms of violence women and young girls can experience, some of them include:
- Intimate – Partner Violence / Domestic Violence
Physical aggressiveness, sexual coercion, psychological abuse, and controlling behaviors are examples of intimate relationship violence. This is one of the most common kinds of violence against women worldwide. In Greece, Statistics from the Domestic Violence Department of the Hellenic Police showed an increase by 34.5% due to the economic crisis. Other research shows that 1 in 4 women in Greece experiences domestic violence, and 25% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence below the age of 15. Domestic violence manifests itself in various ways, one of which is intimate partner violence.
Domestic violence is defined as violence that occurs within the private, secluded household, typically between relatives/family or intimate partners. Domestic violence is not limited to women; it also covers child abuse and elderly abuse in the home and can include emotional, physical, sexual and psychological abuse.
- Domestic Violence includes physical abuse which is when a person intentionally injures or attempts to injure some by hitting, kicking, choking, burning, sexual violence such as spousal rape, and psychological violence such as fear through intimidation or employing another sort of physical force.
- Forcing or attempting to force someone to participate in a sex act, sexual touching, or a non-physical sexual encounter (e.g., sexting) when the person does not or cannot consent is considered sexual violence.
- Stalking, which is a pattern of persistent, unwanted attention and contact by a partner that generates worry or anxiety for one’s own or someone close to the victim’s safety.
- Psychological aggression is the use of verbal and nonverbal communication with the purpose of damaging or manipulating a partner mentally or emotionally.
- Forced isolation, and economic violence by retaining complete control over financial resources, denying access to money, and/or prohibiting attendance at school or employment, among other things.
Intimate partner (physical, sexual, and psychological) violence, as well as sexual violence, cause substantial short- and long-term physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health issues in women. They also have an impact on their children’s health and well-being. This violence has significant social and economic consequences for women, their families, and societies.
Such violence can result in deadly outcomes such as homicide or suicide. Intimate partners are responsible for up to 38% of all female killings worldwide. It also causes injuries, with 42% of women who have experienced intimate partner violence reporting an injury as a result of this violence; and can result in unplanned pregnancies, induced abortions, gynecological issues, and sexually transmitted illnesses such as HIV.
Intimate partner abuse during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, still birth, premature birth, and low birth weight babies. According to a 2013 study, women who experienced intimate partner violence were 16% more likely to miscarry and 41% more likely to have a pre-term delivery.
These types of violence can result in depression, traumatic stress disorder, and other anxiety disorders, as well as sleep difficulties, eating disorders, and suicide attempts. Research shows that women who have suffered intimate partner abuse are nearly twice as likely to suffer from depression, substance abuse (e.g., drinking), headaches, pain syndromes (back pain, stomach pain, chronic pelvic pain), gastrointestinal issues, reduced mobility, and poor general health.
- Sexual Violence
Sexual violence refers to any damaging or undesired sexual behavior put on another person such as forceful and abusive sexual actions/contact, non-consensual intercourse/or attempts, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, threats, exposure, unwanted touching, incest, and others are examples.
- Sexual harassment can take the form of any verbal, nonverbal, or physical behavior, including written and electronic messages. Sexual harassment includes, among other things, sharing sexual or vulgar anecdotes or jokes; unwanted touching, such as pinching, patting, rubbing, or purposefully brushing up against another person, repeatedly asking a person for dates or sex, and making sexual comments about appearance, clothing, or body parts.
- Rape, non-consensual sexual penetration (orally or genitally) of another person’s body with any body part or object, including the use of physical violence and putting the person in a position where they cannot escape, say no or complies out of fear. This can be done by anyone, known or unknown to the victim, in marriage and relationships, or during armed war.
- Corrective rape is a violent abuse that is committed against someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, where the perpetrator/s try to make the victim conform to heterosexuality or normative gender identity.
- Sexual violence in conflict includes violations of women’s human rights in armed conflict, such as systematic rape, sexual slavery, and forced pregnancy, as well as forced sterilization, coercive/forced use of contraception, female infanticide, and prenatal sex selection.
- Femicides
Femicide is defined as the intentional killing of a woman or girl simply because she is or identifies as a woman or girl. Gender-related motivations for killings can range from traditional gender roles to discrimination against women and girls to unequal power relations between men and women in society. In Greece, in 2021, there were 12 femicides in less than a year.
- Gender-based violence against women and girls (femicide/feminicide) is the most extreme and horrific form of violence against women. They can occur in a variety of scenarios in both the private and public arenas, as well as in various contexts of the perpetrator-victim relationship.
- They include, for example, cases with a history of physical, sexual, or psychological violence/harassment, killings committed in the context of human trafficking, forced labor, or slavery.
- Gender-related violence can also include Honor Killings, which is the assassination of a family member, usually a woman or a girl, for the supposed reason that the person has brought disgrace or shame to the family. These deaths are frequently motivated by sexual purity and alleged violations by female family members.
- Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is a global crime in which people are traded and exploited for profit. Traffickers use physical and sexual violence, blackmail, emotional manipulation, and the removal of official documents to control their individuals. Exploitation can occur in a victim’s native country, while traveling, or in a foreign country. Human trafficking can take many different forms. While men, women, and children of various ages and backgrounds can become victims of this crime, women are primarily affected more, with girls being trafficked mainly for sexual exploitation.
- Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
This refers to all non-medical treatments that involve the partial or entire removal of the female external genitalia or other harm to the female genital organs. It is most commonly performed on young girls between the ages of 1 and 15. A variety of variables contribute to the practice’s continuing till date. FGM is a reflection of profoundly established gender inequality in every society where it happens. FGM, in any form, violates the fundamental human rights of girls and women, including their rights to health, security, and dignity. It was only classified as violence in 1997 by WHO, UNICEF, and UNFPA.
- It has no health benefits and can result in significant, long-term problems, including death. Hemorrhage, shock, infection, HIV transmission, urine retention, and extreme discomfort are all immediate health threats.
- Psychological effects of this horrific act range from a girl losing faith in her caregivers to protect her, to long-term anxiety, depression and trauma. As adults, girls who have had FGM are more likely to experience infertility or difficulties after childbirth, such as postpartum hemorrhage, stillbirth, neonatal death and sexual difficulties.
- Child marriage, Early marriage, and Forced marriage
Any marriage in which at least one of the partners is under the age of 18 is considered a child marriage.
A forced marriage is where one or both partners have not given their complete consent to the union.
A child marriage is considered a type of forced marriage if one or both parties do not offer their complete, free, and informed consent. Child marriage is widely recognized as a violation of children’s rights and has a number of negative consequences for children’s (overwhelmingly female) lives, including early and frequent pregnancies, increased risks of maternal death and illness, limited decision-making in family matters, school dropout, reduces opportunity for independence and working in the future and risk of domestic violence in the future.
- Online Violence
This is any act committed, aided, aggravated, or amplified by the use of social media or online platforms that results in physical, sexual, psychological, social, political, or economic harm, or other violations of rights and freedom. It can happen in online settings as well as offline through technological means, such as controlling a woman’s location with a GPS tracker. Gender-based violence through technology exacerbates existing forms and patterns of violence against women, such as intimate-partner assault, and introduces new kinds of violence, such as online stalking and image-based abuse using artificial intelligence, such as deepfake videos.
The following are examples of online violence:
- Cyberbullying is the practice of sending frightening, threatening or abusive messages over the internet.
- Sending explicit texts or photographs without the recipient’s consent is known as non-consensual sexting.
- Doxing is the public leak of private or identifying information about a victim such as images, videos, messages.
While violence and abuse can be hidden, knowing the indicators of an abusive intimate relationship for one, can help us identify when it is happening and seek or offer help. Every relationship is unique, and domestic abuse does not always take the same form. However, one quality shared by the majority of abusive relationships is that the abusive partner attempts to establish power and control using a variety of techniques at various times. A few signs of abuse include:
- Everything you do is controlled by your partner. They constantly monitor where you are and who you are with. They make it difficult or impossible to see friends, relatives, or go to work or school.
- Your partner expects you to respond immediately to their texts, emails, and phone calls, and he or she demands access to your social media, email, and other accounts.
- An abusive partner may be easily suspicious or jealous, accusing you of cheating all the time or become angry if you are spending time away from them. They may try to manage your spending habits as well as your usage of medication or birth control. They may make decisions for you on a daily basis, such as how you should dress and/or what you should eat or do.
- They could be demeaning. They may make fun of your appearance, intelligence, or interests. Telling you that you never do anything right.
- They may try to embarrass, insult, or humiliate you in front of others and ruin possessions or items that you value. They may insult your parenting and threaten to harm or take away your children or pets.
- They may pressure you to use drugs or alcohol.
- They may even apologize after harming you by giving you gifts, taking you on trips, sending you flowers, to compensate for their behavior until it is repeated again.
- An abusive partner may appear angry or have a volatile or unpredictable temper, so you may never be certain of what will trigger a conflict. They may blame you for their violent outbursts and may physically attack or threaten to harm you, others in your household, including children or pets – as a way of further controlling you.
- They may physically harm you or threaten to use a weapon against you.
- They may be sexually abusive, such as rape or other forms of coerced sexual activity. They may wrongly believe that consent you provided for sex in the past obligates you to participate in it all the time in the future, whenever they may want it. They may also mistake agreement for one intimate activity as approval for escalating levels of intimacy. For example, an abuser may believe that every kiss should result in sex.
- If you disclose the violence or resist, an abusive partner may threaten to report you to authorities for illegal activities or threaten to ruin your reputation/name in the community. They may gaslight you as well, telling you that nobody will believe you and nothing so harmful has happened or that you do not have proof to deter you from seeking help and staying in the relationship.
If you are experiencing abuse, it is vital to seek help and safety. Sharing your concerns and pain with a trusted friend, family member, neighbor can help you work with them to form a plan to keep you safe such as sending a code word, emoji or specific message that would let them know you are in danger. It is useful to develop a safety plan to escape, some of which may include coming up with a plausible reason to why you have to leave home, keeping your phone charged and a list of numbers to call for help, such as the police, a shelter, a friend. If you are unable to seek help from loved ones or someone nearby, reaching out to a professional who is trained to help would be best and/or a local helpline.
If you know someone who might be experiencing abuse, keep in touch with them frequently in creative ways to avoid the abuser becoming suspicious, for instance, if you both have children, suggesting joint calls or play dates with your children can help you check in on your friend/loved one safely. Ask your friend how they prefer you to communicate with them (e.g. messages, phone call, specific app or platform) and establish hidden ways (e.g. code words or sayings) for them to let you know if they feel unsafe or if the abuser is nearby incase the abuser is monitoring phone calls. Most importantly, be supportive and reassure them they are not alone, you are there to support them. Be patient and respect their privacy as it may be difficult to talk about the abuse because of safety issues, stigma, feelings of shame or worries of being blamed. If they do share about it, be empathetic, listen without judgement, acknowledge how difficult and scary this must be. Let them know it is not their fault, avoid criticizing their choices. Respect their right to consent and decisions they make and avoid taking action without their consent. Help them develop a plan to flee, escape or cope if they are in danger, how they can access shelter, resources and safety. Continue being supportive, encouraging them to seek out professional support and empowering them to gently begin gaining control of their lives again.
The SOS helpline 15900 is specifically for women experiencing violence in Greece. It is staffed with psychologists and social workers that provide immediate assistance in emergencies and violence, 24 hours a day, all year long. They offer information, telephone counseling services free of charge for calls from Vodaphone and Wind in Greek and English as well as other languages. If you or anyone you know is experiencing violence and needs help, please contact SOS 15900 helpline or send an email to sos15900@isotita.gr. You can also call 100 (the police) if you are in immediate danger. Other organizations to reach out to include: Diotima – a non-profit organization that provides support and legal assistance to women experiencing abuse, you can reach them via email diotima@otenet.gr or via phone 2103244380.
Please refer to this link to also learn more about the cycle of abuse in relationships:
https://roots.gr/en/2021/11/25/end-violence-towards-women/
By
Nathasha Sharma
Extra Resources and References
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-measures-end-violence-against-women/
https://www.un.org/en/observances/ending-violence-against-women-day
https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/faqs/types-of-violence
https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/faqs/signs-of-abuse
https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women
https://www.thehotline.org/identify-abuse/domestic-abuse-warning-signs/