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SafeChippewa.Com

Serving Chippewa County, Wisconsin

Need Assistance?

To talk to someone, receive counseling, or obtain assistance in getting a restraining order, please contact the Family Support Center at 715-723-1138, or 1-800-400-7020.

Feel free to report any criminal behavior to your local law enforcement agency.

Web Site Links

The Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WCADV) web site provides helpful information on issues surrounding sexual assault. Their web site address is

www.wcadv.org

Other helpful web sites:

1) www.endabuse.org

2) www.womenslaw.org

Domestic Violence

For ease of reading we have used female pronouns throughout this section when referring to victims of domestic violence. Although the vast majority of victims are female, this is not to suggest that men are never victims.

Domestic abuse is a pattern of aggressive and intimidating behaviors that abusers use to control their intimate partners through fear and intimidation, often including the threat or use of violence. Abuse can be verbal, emotional, physical, sexual and/or economic and is based on power and control. The abuser believes he is entitled to control his partner, control how she thinks, feels and behaves. People often think of domestic violence only in terms of the cuts and bruises that we can see. In reality, it is a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors, designed to control another person.

Some examples of abuse:

	Physical abuse includes a wide range of behaviors, from restraint through slapping and hitting, forcing drug consumption or withholding medication, to aggravated assault and homicide;
	Sexual abuse is defined as anything from sexual activity forced after a physically abusive incident, to threats of infidelity, coerced sex acts, forcible intercourse, denial of contraception, coerced abortion to sexual mutilation;
	Emotional abuse includes threats, name calling, intimidation, degrading or contemptuous behavior, withholding communication, yelling and isolating you from friends, family, society;
	Economic abuse occurs through direct or indirect manipulation or domination of family finances, the abdication of financial responsibility, or disposition of the personal property of family members without consent;
	Destruction of property includes vandalism of the home, car or other personal assets;
	Threats or acts of abuse against children, significant others or family pets for the purpose of manipulating or punishing the victim.

This information was obtained from the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WCADV). WCADV is a statewide, non-profit membership organization of battered women, formerly battered women, domestic abuse programs, and individuals committed to ending domestic violence.

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