Emotional abuse can have a devastating impact but it leaves a mark that is difficult for the world to see
A NEW stand-alone offence of strangulation will be announced by Justice Minister Helen McEntee today to help tackle domestic abuse.
Minister McEntee will tell the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors that she is considering the introduction of a new offence of non-fatal strangulation.
Non fatal strangulation and asphyxiation are common features of domestic abuse and are often an indication that victims are at further risk of potentially lethal violence.
While strangulation is currently prosecuted as a crime under the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, Minister McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris have discussed making it a stand-alone offence.
It comes after Women’s Aid commissioned a new report into the hidden effects of Relationship Abuse.
Writing in the Irish Sun today, Women’s Aid’s CHRISTINA SHERLOCK says the study revealed some “stark and disturbing findings”.
MORE REQUIRED
WOMEN’s Aid have, for a long time felt that more was required to better understand, prevent and combat intimate relationship abuse among young people in Ireland.
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We know it is happening, yet there is very little research available to help us gauge the prevalence and nature of this kind of abuse.
With this in mind, Women’s Aid in collaboration with RED C conducted research comprised of a robust, nationally representative online survey of 500 young people aged 18 to 25 years and a number of focus groups to further explore the survey findings.
We found that three in five young people have either personally experienced or know someone who has experienced abuse in a current or former intimate relationship under the age of 25.
It is also clear from the research that intimate relationship abuse is a heavily gendered phenomenon, as it is particularly women who suffer at the hands of male current or former partners.
INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP ABUSE
We found that a startling a one in five young women that we surveyed had experienced intimate relationship abuse.
This is in comparison to just one in 11 young men who had experienced intimate relationship abuse.
Troublingly, 51 per cent of women reported that the abuse had begun when they were below the age of 18.
Although physical violence may be the most visible form of abuse and the most widely discussed within public discourse, this survey highlights the prevalence and impact of emotional abuse.
Of the women we surveyed who had experienced intimate relationship abuse, nine out of ten had suffered emotional abuse.
FORMS OF ABUSE
We know from our decades of frontline work, the devastating impacts that emotional abuse can have.
It does not leave a mark and can therefore be difficult to identify and to seek assistance and support for.
Worrying details of experiences and impacts of other forms of abuse including sexual coercion, rape, physical violence and coercive control were uncovered within the research.
One tactic of abuse in particular that we wanted to learn more about was online abuse using digital technology.
A startling one in two women who had suffered intimate relationship abuse experienced the abuse online or through the use of digital technology.
URGENT MEASURES NEEDED
Research participants told us about the particularly devastating impacts of online abuse due to the ‘always on’ nature of online life.
In Ireland, regulation and legislation has fallen badly behind the fast-paced digital world.
Urgent measures are needed to combat the vast amount of vitriol and misogyny that women are subjected to online.
Never has this been more important in light of the devastating image-based sexual abuse so many women were subjected to last week.
The impacts of the abuse on young women are multiple and severe with the majority suffering low self-esteem, anxiety and depression and becoming isolated due to withdrawal from friends and family.
CHALLENGES TO OVERCOME
Some also disclosed that they had been hospitalised or attempted suicide as a result of the abuse. Yet so many still suffer in silence.
When asked, 32 per cent of young women said they had never spoken to anyone about their experience or sought help.
They told us that fear was the most likely to hold them back from speaking to someone, followed by embarrassment and shame. These are critical challenges to overcome.
Our research shows clearly that there is a need for in-depth research to further understand the level, nature and impacts of intimate relationship abuse experienced by young people aged 18 to 25.
Research is also needed in order to gauge the prevalence of this kind of abuse among under 18s.
NEVER YOUR FAULT
Greater awareness raising is also needed from primary school to third level in order promote healthy relationships and help with the recognition of unhealthy relationships.
More public awareness raising in general is needed to increase recognition of the signs of intimate relationship abuse and to combat the fear, stigma and shame that stops victims from seeking support.
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Lastly, we are urging that the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017 be progressed and enacted without delay to provide for the criminalisation of image-based sexual abuse and other forms of online harassment.
In the meantime, we can all do our part as a community to continue to communicate a constant message that it is never your fault, that you will be believed, and that there is support there — for anyone who suffers in this way.