It is against the law for a man to hit or threaten his wife, girlfriend, or children and a woman to hit or threaten her husband, boyfriend, or children. Abuse can take many different forms:

• Emotional Abuse - is making belittling or degrading comments, questioning one's judgement or sanity, closely monitoring one's movements and threats of violence.
  
  
• Physical Abuse - can be slapping, pushing, kicking, hitting, choking, and hitting with an object or weapon. This is often accompanied by mental abuse.
  
  
• Sexual Abuse - is someone forcing his partner into unwanted sexual activity either through violence or the threat of violence.
  
  
• Marital Rape - became a crime in Pennsylvania in February 1985. It is estimated that one in ten wives in the U.S. is raped by their husbands and that as many as 50% of women who are physically abused are also sexually abused. Marital rape is as emotionally painful as stranger rape.

• Domestic abuse occurs in families of all social classes, races, religions.
  
  
• Abuse often occurs without apparent reason or because of some minor occurrence.
  
  
• Alcohol and drugs are usually a factor in the abusive situation.
  
  
• Abuse may increase during pregnancy or times of unemployment.
  
  
• Abuse often occurs in homes where a person feels that their partner is his/her possession and she/he makes them angry.
  
  
• Abuse is the most under/reported crime in America, often because of the shame and guilt that the victim feels. Sometimes the victim may wonder if it is a normal part of family life.
  
  
• Victims often do not leave, or may return, because of fear they lack resources to be on their own such as a job, housing and personal support.
  
  
• Victims sometimes stay because they feel that if it is their fault, they should try to "do better" to keep the family together.
  
  
• Abuse tends to happen in cycles, does not just go away and tends to get worse over time.