Early violence can include verbal abuse, hitting objects, throwing objects, breaking objects, and making threats. During the first few explosion phases, the violence may be relatively minor, such as pushing, grabbing, and restraining. The violence may increase to slapping, pinching, kicking, and pulling out clumps of hair. One in three women in a battering relationship is raped. Unfortunately, some abusers may jump from minor violence to severe violence after only a few explosion phases, or use the worst forms of violence right from the beginning.
Some victims live in what resembles a concentration camp situation.
In these homes, the batterer s desire to control someone or something through violence and terror is rooted in a twisted need to humiliate, degrade, and eventually destroy. The ultimate aim of the violence is the victim s destruction, whether it be of mind, feelings, or body. For some, this destruction is the only proof of ownership. Many batterers create an environment where the victim appears to agreed to be controlled. Unfortunately, the batterer is never satisfied without constant physical proof of possession.