The cycle of violence
Domestic violence is distinguished from other forms by the fact that it occurs in a couple where the two partners live an intimate and affective relationship. In his relationship of domination, the aggressor establishes and maintains his hold on his victim while ensuring that she does not leave him. Domestic violence is not a dynamic where the two partners are in turn the aggressor and the victim. It is a sequence of strategies determined and initiated by the aggressor in order to dominate the victim.
To isolate his victim and restrict her freedom, the aggressor will slowly create, through strategies, a trap similar to a spider’s web. He deliberately constructs, from the repetition of the cycle of violence, a context from which it will be increasingly difficult to escape.
They are several reasons why it is difficult for some women to break the silence and break out of the cycle of violence:
- The hope of a change in the behaviours of her partner;
- Preserve the family unity;
- The fear of having her children taken away;
- Pressures from the relatives;
- Social isolation;
- Lack of financial resources;
- Serious threats;
- The fear of reprisals on herself, on the children or on the animals;
- Suicide blackmail of the partner;
- The ignorance of her rights;
- The fear of harming her partner (criminal record, job loss).