Behaviors characteristic of physical battering include kicking, hitting, biting, choking, pushing, and assaults with weapons. Sometimes particular areas of the body are targeted, such as the abdomen of a pregnant woman. Victims may have difficulty preventing or escaping physical abuse because, very often, the factors that keep them in the relationship also keep them from reporting or documenting the abuse. Victims stay in physically abusive relationships for many reasons. Some victims stay because they blame themselves, believe the abuse will stop, are financially dependent, or fear that they or their children will be seriously injured or killed if they attempt to leave.
Victims also stay because they have, or feel they have, no other place to go.
Similar to rape occurring outside the family, marital rape appears to be mainly an act of violence and aggression in which sex is the method used to humiliate, hurt, degrade, and dominate the woman. The violence and brutality in the sexual relationship seem to escalate with time. The sexual violence is frequently accompanied by life-threatening acts or threats. This type of abuse is often present in families where physical abuse or sexual violence is present. They may try to keep the victim from working and therefore encourage the victim's economic dependence upon them.