Domestic abuse also affects the children living in the house and there are links between domestic abuse and all forms of child abuse.
Physical abuse can include slapping, punching, strangling, using weapons, scalding, burning.
Mental abuse can include humiliation and degradation, keeping the woman from contact with her family and friends, threats against the woman or her children, name-calling. Sexual abuse can include being forced to take part in sex acts against her will, being sexually assaulted with objects, being raped. It is likely that we all know women who have been abused. In Women's Aid, we see women from all backgrounds, all ages, all sections of society. Children and young people also experience domestic abuse, either by seeing or hearing their mother's abuse, or by being abused themselves.