“Why does she stay?” That is the most common question when domestic violence is brought up. Domestic abuse occurs in all races, all economic backgrounds, and in all levels of society and the effects of the abuse can last a lifetime, and the reasons women stay in violent relationships are numerous and multifaceted. There is no black or white reason as to why women stay in abusive relationships. Due to the media and advocacy programs domestic violence is gaining more and more awareness. However, the attention on domestic violence tends to focus on the physical abuse and the effects that causes. The emotional abuse that occurs within a violent relationship is considered just as damaging to the victim if not more. According to the National Coalitional against Domestic Violence, the definition of domestic violence is the “willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior perpetrated by an intimate partner against another.” As one can see, domestic violence reaches much further than physical violence, but those issues are often overlooked. Even though men can be victims of domestic violence, statistics show that one in four women experience domestic violence in their lifetime (Office of Women’s Health).
The form of abuse that is used against the victim is not limited to, but can include isolation, threats, intimidation, and economic abuse. Each one of these forms of abuse causes the victim grave distress and even though they are not a physical assault in nature they are still forms of control. The root of domestic violence is power and control, one partner in the relationship is attempting to use any means necessary in order to have power over and control the other partner. Abusive relationships do not start out with physical violence; it is a slow build up. The abuser will be charming and nice and appear