Mold developing inside the walls of a house is an example of an assault. A guy holding a pistol to a woman's head and demanding her pocketbook and jewels is an example of an assault. An assault is described as the act of attempting to injure or destroy someone physically or verbally, sometimes purposely. All forms of violence against women should be considered assaults. Some examples of attacks include but are not limited to: beating up another person, shooting at someone with intent to harm, stabbing with intent to harm, choking someone, setting fire to something that will burn people alive (such as arson), using or threatening to use a weapon against someone, etc. Attacks can be either physical or non-physical. Physical attacks involve some type of physical contact with your victim such as hitting them with your hand or object, kicking, punching, and strangling. Non-physical attacks include psychological torture and coercion, which we will discuss later in this lesson. Attacks can be either single incidents or continuous periods of violence. If you are being repeatedly attacked over a period of time, then we say that you are being victimized by a serial attacker. Some examples of serial attackers include but are not limited to: spouse/partner abuser, sexual predator, stalking victim, hate crime perpetrator, etc. One man attacking one woman does not constitute violence against women, but rather violence between two people. However, if this same man were to attack several other women, then this would be considered violence against women.