Domestic violence is the way that one person in a relationship can obtain and maintain power over their partner through physical, sexual, mental, emotional, economical, and/or technological activities.

It can happen to anyone, no matter the gender of a person, and can happen at any time.

The way abusive partners gain control over the person they “love” is by manipulating them or belittling them, humiliating them, frightening them, blaming/threatening them, isolating them, making them scared, and/or hurting them to the point of injury.

These people are terrorizers to our society, the majority of the time they are men. A woman can still be the abuser, but the majority of the cases reported are against males.

Purple is the color for domestic violence and the month it is celebrated is on the third Thursday of October, but it should be talked about all the time because people have experienced, are experiencing, or will be experiencing domestic violence in their life.

It not only affects your victims, but it will affect children involved when you are older and have kids. There are signs that need to be aware of in case you have no idea or you already know.

The common signs to know if you are in a domestic violence situation whether you are a teenager or an adult is:

• Your partner telling you that everything you do is wrong.
• If your partner becomes extremely jealous no matter who you hang out with-whether it is your friends or your family, it becomes a problem.
• If your partner doesn’t want you to have a social life-no hanging out with friends, family, classmates, and more.
• If your partner becomes cruel by insulting you, demeaning you, or shaming you in front of people and without an audience around you.
• If your partner stops you from making your own decisions in your life, controls all the finances without your input that include taking your personal money or refusing to give money when you need it.
• If he pressures you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable like taking drugs, alcohol, or anything intimate.
• If your partner threatens to harm or takes away your pets and when you do have children, he will threaten to take them away.
• Your partner will then insult your parenting more than usual, it becomes a problem.
• If your partner intimidates you with dangerous, violent weapons that include knives, guns, bats, and more. If your partner destroys your house or your belongings you should seek help.

These common signs are just a few listed, but there are countless more that a partner uses to administer the domestic violence physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially.

There are people available that will take your call, text, and live chat. The number to call is 800-799-7233, you can text “START” to 88788, and you can live chat on the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Though they are open 24 hours and seven days a week, to call you will probably wait for more than 15 minutes. If you really need help, those minutes matter for you to voice your story. Call 911 if it gets worse.

Domestic violence occurs everywhere around you, even the people that least expect it. Domestic violence is a way of taking control over the victim to make them feel terrible about themselves and isolate them.

Domestic violence not only affects the victims, but it affects everyone else who cares about them like children, friends, family, and more. There are signs if someone is dealing with domestic violence if they are not well aware and call the numbers that are listed so you do seek help.