The terms domestic violence and intimate partner violence (IPV) may also be used to refer to dating abuse. All three terms refer to the pattern of abusive behavior in an intimate or romantic relationship where one person chooses to control the relationship through the use of force, intimidation, or fear.

Verbal Abuse
  • Calling someone names, insulting them, and putting them down

  • Telling someone what to wear, what to do

  • Calling, texting, or emailing constantly

  • Always demanding to know who you’re with and where you are

  • Threatening to hurt you

Verbal abuse and emotional abuse often lead to physical violence. Just because a relationship is not physically violent does not mean that it is healthy.

Phone Check Up
Emotional Abuse
  • Going through your things behind your back

  • Acting extremely jealous

  • Not letting you hang out with friends and family

  • Blaming you for everything

  • Accusing you of cheating

  • Accusing you of lying

Physical Abuse
  • Shaking, grabbing

  • Pulling hair

  • Slapping, punching, kicking

  • Using objects to hurt you

  • Choking, strangling

Sexual Abuse
  • Unwanted grabbing, touching, kissing, or humping someone in a sexual manner

  • Pressuring or forcing you to have sex or do other sexual things. Having a partner keep going after you’ve asked them to slow down or stop

  • Forcing someone to watch a sexual act or engage in sexual acts with other people

  • Taking or sharing sexual photos/videos without consent

  • Trying to manipulate or control decisions about using birth control

  • Misrepresenting their use of contraception (e.g. saying they used a condom when they did not, or removing a condom and not telling their partner)

  • Forcing you to get or preventing you from getting an abortion

  • Committing statutory rape

Financial Abuse
  • Forbidding you to work

  • Refusing to work or contribute

  • Sabotaging work or employment opportunities

  • Controlling how all of the money is spent

  • Not allowing you access to bank accounts

  • Pressuring you or forcing you to steal

  • Not including you to make investment or banking decisions

  • Forcing you to write bad checks or file fraudulent tax returns

  • Running up large amounts of debt on joint accounts, taking bad credit loans

  • Withholding funds to obtain basic needs such as food and medicine

  • Hiding assets

  • Stealing your identity, property or inheritance

Phone Insults
Technological Abuse
  • Telling you who you can or can’t be friends with on social media sites

  • Sending you negative, insulting, or threatening emails, social media messages, tweets, DMs, or other communications online

  • Using sites like Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, or others to keep constant tabs on you

  • Putting you down in their status updates

  • Sending you unwanted, explicit pictures and/or demanding you send some in return

  • Pressuring you to send explicit video or sexts

  • Stealing or insisting you share your passwords

  • Constantly texting you and making you feel like you can’t be separated from your phone for fear that you will be punished

  • Looking through your phone frequently, checking up on your pictures, texts and outgoing calls

  • Tagging you unkindly in pictures on Instagram, Tumblr, etc.

  • Using any kind of technology (such as spyware or GPS in a car or on a phone) to monitor you

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