I went to one of my counseling sessions and they gave me a booklet: "Woman Abuse Affects Our Children".

I'm going to give out a brief summary about it as well as share a few other books I've read this past year, or last year to give you an emphasis of what anyone could be experiencing and that they're not alone.

A Glossary

Abused Partner: Someone that is abused by their intimate partner, also known as "survivor, victimized parent, and adult victim".

child abuse: "Child maltreatment" that can mean physical, sexual, emotional abuse, or physical, emotional neglect, or denial of MEDICAL CARE.

Child exposure to woman abuse: seeing, hearing, being told about, or seeing the aftermath of a mother's abuse by her partner.

coping strategy: A way to cope with a emotionally painful situation, referred as survival strategies.

domestic violence: abuse or assault of adults by their partners.

power and control tactics: A pattern of behavior involving coercion, threats, intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation, using male privlege, minimizing the seriousness of abusive behavior, denial of harm, etc.

Woman abuse: a pattern of male behavior by power and control tactics against a woman, may involve physical assault. The abuse ranges from insults through life threatening injuries and sometimes death.
Woman abuse can take one, or two or more of these forms: emotional abuse, (degrading comments, withholding health card or important papers); economical abuse (denying access to money); sexual abuse ( forced) spiritual abuse ( preventing participation ), environmental abuse (making the home setting aversion for the partner); physical abuse, (punching, kicking, shoving, pushing, choking). All are violence against women.

Woman Abuse

• occurs in all age, racial, cultraul, socioeconomic, educational, occupational, religious groups.

• caused by contributing of violence against women in society; economic, political inequality of women; socialization of girls to palce the needs of others over their own and to value males more than females; sterotypes of masculinity indicating that being powerful and in control are good; societal attitudes condoning violence against women.

• occurs within a current or past intimate relationship

• typically involves repetitive behavior, including different types of abuse--physical, psychological, emotional, economic abuse, use of children.

• involve severe forms of violence (beating, choking, burning) that result in serious injuries.

• used to intimidate, humiliate, or frighten women as a systematic way of maintaining power, and control over them.

• abusive behavior in most cases is learned (abusive behavior modelled in family of origin, abusive behavior rewarded, gets desired results for abuser).

• caused by the abuser, not by the woman in the relationship.

• it's a crime, where the actual or threatened physical or sexual force is used.

• increased risk to woman and children at the time of separation from the abuser.

• results in surivor behavior focused on ensuring survival (minimizing, self-blame, denying the violence, protecting the abuser, abusing alcohol/drugs, using aggression as self-defence, seeking help, remaining in the abused relationship).