myth: intimate partner violence only happens to women.
Fact: 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of some form of physical violence. 30-50% of transgender people, will experience intimate partner violence.
myth: if a victim of intimate partner violence stays with abuser, it means the situation isn't bad.
Fact: On average the victim will try to leave eight times before they successful leave the abuser. Leaving is very difficult due to; finances, children, threats and/or using the court system to keep control of the victim (even after they leave).
myth: victims provoke their partners violence.
Fact: No amount of bad behavior can induce someone to behave violently. Victims do not cause their abuse, even if they are unfaithful, unreasonable, or unkind.
myth: Children are not effected when one parent abuses the other.
Fact: 50-70% of cases in which parent abuses another parent, the children are also physically abused, some children (especially boys) who experience intimate partner violence in their home, grow up to repeat the same behavioral patterns.
myth: intimate partner violence only occurs in low-income families.
Fact: Domestic violence happens in all kinds of families: rich and poor; urban; suburban and rural; in sexual minority communities; in every part of the country; in every racial and age group.