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Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) deals with sexual violence within the context of domestic violence. Intimate partner sexual violence is defined by any unwanted sexual contact or activity by an intimate partner in order to control an individual through fear, threats, or violence. Women are the primary victims of this type of violence.

Domestic violence and sexual abuse

Domestic sexual violence, such as forced sex or marital rape, may follow or be part of physical abuse, but is not always the case. In Mexico and the United States, studies estimate that 40–52% of women experiencing physical violence by an intimate partner have also been sexually coerced by that partner.

Sexual violence may occur without physical violence. In the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, in a representative sample of over 6000 men, 7% reported having sexually and physically abused their wives, 22% reported using sexual violence without physical violence and 17% reported that they had used physical violence alone.

The percentage of women who are victims of physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner is around thirty.

Types of coercion

Aggressors can use different techniques to sexually abuse their partner.

Emotional coercion

Emotional coercion can be seen through the use of threats, manipulation, harassment, and neglect. A study shows that the harm done through this type of coercion is comparable to that done by rape.

Threats to a third party

Threats to a third party involve threatening the victim to do what the abuser wants or else they will inflict pain on people the victim cherishes.

Threats of harm to the victim

Threats of harm to the victim imply threatening to inflict pain on the victim, whether by the intimate partner or by outsiders.

Physical force

Physical force is the use of objects, substances, and/or one's own body to obtain sex. Homicide committed by an intimate partner is often preceded by sexual acts obtained through physical force.

Health effects

Intimate partner sexual violence is linked to sexual, physical, psychological, and reproductive damage. The effects can vary in duration.

Women who are victims of intimate partner sexual violence are at high risk of getting HIV and STIs. One reason for this is that men who are violent in this manner usually have dangerous habits like engaging in sexual acts with many individuals.

Victims of intimate partner sexual violence are also at risk of having undesirable pregnancies, abortions, miscarriages, and stillbirths. Infertility is another possible consequence of this violence on women.

Young victims of intimate partner sexual violence can come to adopt unhealthy behaviors such as the use of alcohol and drugs.

Children who have seen intimate partner sexual violence are profoundly affected psychologically. They can experience post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Children are likely to incorporate what they see into their belief systems because they are accustomed to it.

Incidence by country

Studies indicate that sexual assault by an intimate partner is neither rare nor unique to any particular region of the world. For instance, 23% of women in North London, England, reported having been the victim of either an attempted or completed rape by a partner in their lifetime. Similar figures have been reported for Guadalajara, Mexico (23.0%), León, Nicaragua, (21.7%), Lima, Peru (22.5%), and for the Midlands Province in Zimbabwe (25.0%). The prevalence of women sexually assaulted by an intimate partner in their lifetime (including attempted assaults) has also been estimated in a few national surveys (for example, Canada 8.0%, England, Wales and Scotland (combined) 14.2%, Finland 5.9%, Switzerland 11.6% and the United States 7.7%, Nigeria 22.3). in France According to estimates, 220,000 women are victims of violence, 94,000 are raped each year and at least 100 were killed by their partners in 2021. Around 30% of sexual violence offenders were found to have committed violence before, 29% of complaints cases failed to move from police to the judiciary and 80% are closed without getting justice.

The table below summarizes some available data on the prevalence of sexual coercion by intimate partners.

See also

• Domestic violence
• Intimate partner violence
• Marital rape
• Sexual assault
• Thordis Elva - Rape victim who collaborated with her assailant to author a book about the experience

References

1. Advocacy. "Intimate Partner Sexual Violence". www.wcsap.org. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
2. "Definitions | Sexual Violence Research Initiative". www.svri.org. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
3. ^ "WHO | Intimate partner and sexual violence (violence against women)". WHO. Archived from the original on July 26, 2014. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
4. Campbell JC, Soeken KL. Forced sex and intimate partner violence: effects on women's risk and women's health. Violence Against Women, 1999, 5:1017–1035.
5. Granados Shiroma M.Salud reproductiva y violencia contra la mujer: un ana lisis desde la perspectiva de género. [Reproductive health and violence against women: an analysis from the gender perspective of Nuevo Leon, Asociación Mexicana de Población, Colegio de México, 1996.
6. Hakimi M et al. Silence for the sake of harmony: domestic violence and women's health in central Java. Yogyakarta, Gadjah Mada University, 2001.
7. Martin SL et al. Sexual behaviour and reproductive health outcomes: associations with wife abuse in India. Journal of the American Medical Association, 1999, 282:1967–1972.
8. "Facts and figures: Ending violence against women". UN Women. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
9. ^ McOrmond-Plummer, Louise; Levy-Peck, Jennifer Y.; Easteal, Patricia (2016-12-08). Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence : A Multidisciplinary Approach to Prevention, Recognition, and Intervention. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-69342-2.
10. ^ World Health Organization (2014). "Violence against women : intimate partner and sexual violence against women : intimate partner and sexual violence have serious short- and long-term physical, mental and sexual and reproductive health problems for survivors : fact sheet". hdl:10665/112325. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
11. ^ World Health Organization (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. Italy: World Health Organization. p. 22. ISBN 978-92-4-156462-5.
12. "Nigeria". evaw-global-database.unwomen.org. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
13. "French march against violence against women, Yellow Vest movement".
14. Rodgers K. Wife assault: the findings of a national survey. Juristat Service Bulletin, 1994, 14:1–22.
15. Randall M et al. Sexual violence in women's lives: findings from the women's safety project, a community-based survey. Violence Against Women, 1995, 1:6–31.
16. Gillioz L, DePuy J, Ducret V. Domination et violences envers la femme dans le couple. [Domination and violence against women in the couple.] Lausanne, Payot-Editions, 1997.
17. Heiskanen M, Piispa M. Faith, hope and battering: a survey of men's violence against women in Finland. Helsinki, Statistics Finland, 1998.
18. Hakimi M et al. Silence for the sake of harmony: domestic violence and women's health in central Java. Yogyakarta, Gadjah Mada University, 2001.
19. Heise LL, Ellsberg M, Gottemoeller M. Ending violence against women. Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Center for Communications Programs, 1999 (Population Reports, Series L, No.11).
20. Morrison A et al. The socio-economic impact of domestic violence against women in Chile and Nicaragua. Washington, DC, Inter-American Development Bank, 1997.
21. Ellsberg MC. Candies in hell: domestic violence against women in Nicaragua. Umea˚, Umea˚ University, 1997.
22. Puerto Rico: encuesto de salud reproductiva 1995– 1996. [Puerto Rico: reproductive health survey 1995–1996.] San Juan, University of Puerto Rico and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998.
23. Risberg G, Lundgren E, Westman G. Prevalence of sexualized violence among women: a populationbased study in a primary healthcare district. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 1999, 27:247–253.
24. Ilkkaracan P et al. Exploring the context of women's sexuality in Eastern Turkey. Reproductive Health Matters, 1998, 6:66–75.
25. Painter K, Farrington DP. Marital violence in Great Britain and its relationship to marital and nonmarital rape. International Review of Victimology, 1998, 5:257–276.
26. Mooney J. The hidden figure: domestic violence in north London. London, Middlesex University, 1993.
27. Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Full report of the prevalence, incidence and consequences of violence against women: findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, DC, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000 (NCJ 183781).
28. Haj Yahia MM. The incidence of wife abuse and battering and some demographic correlates revealed in two national surveys in Palestinian society. Ramallah, Besir Centre for Research and Development, 1998.
29. Watts C et al. Withholding sex and forced sex: dimensions of violence against Zimbabwean women. Reproductive Health Matters, 1998, 6:57–65.

External links

National organizations

• MenCanStopRape.org
• Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, the United States' largest anti-sexual assault organization.
• Sexual Assault Care Centre Scarborough, An extensive resource for victims/survivors of sexual assault.

Support organizations

• Casualspace, online support group with forums, mobile ready chat rooms, and blogs. Resources and information on several categories pertaining to abuse.
• After Silence, online support group and forums and chat room for survivors of rape and sexual abuse, and their supporters.
• Pandora's Aquarium, an online support group, message board, and chat room for sexual assault survivors and their supporters.
• Support for Victims and Their Family, Support for Victims and Their Family

Research and information

• Award Winning Documentary on Sexual Assault and Healing
• Rape Crisis Information Pathfinder- research on sexual assault
• U.S. Army Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Program Archived 2010-10-05 at the Wayback Machine

• Medical emergencies
• Intimate partner violence
• Gender and society
• Sexism
• Criminology
• Rape
• Sexual violence