I have found over the years that a good many people think of abuse as something physical only. Is it hitting? Is it hitting hard? Slapping? Punching? Kicking? Pulling hair?
Yes.
But it’s also screaming, putting someone down, isolating them from others, and jealous rages. It is threatening violence, hurting others (abuse on top of abuse) to hurt the intended victim, harming animals to hurt the victim, name-calling, and controlling your money. And there’s more. Many abusers find their own way.
And abuse is rape, even if you said yes but changed your mind. Even if you’re married.
Abuse aims to weaken you in whichever way it can. I was much less physically abused by my first husband than I was mentally and emotional and psychologically. I was controlled, even from prison. In some ways, I think I was brainwashed to believe every threat, even when he was states away, even when he was months away from ever seeing me.
Abuse is so much more than people realize.
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