Physical abuse is any physical force that injures you or puts your health in danger. Physical abuse can include shaking, burning, choking, hair-pulling, hitting, slapping, kicking, and any type of harm with a weapon like a knife or a gun. It can also include threats to hurt you, your children, your pets, or family members. Physical abuse can also include restraining you against your will, by tying you up or locking you in a space. Physical abuse in an intimate partner (romantic or sexual) relationship is also called domestic violence.

Emotional abuse can feel as destructive and damaging as physical abuse, and can severely impact your mental health. It’s often used as a way to maintain power and control over someone.

Emotional abuse may be accompanied by other kinds of abuse: sexual, financial or physical. However, it doesn’t need to include other kinds of abuse to count as abuse; it’s serious enough on its own to be a concern.

Types of emotional abuse

Emotional abuse can involve any of the following:

• Verbal abuse: yelling at you, insulting you or swearing at you.
• Rejection: Constantly rejecting your thoughts, ideas and opinions.
• Gaslighting: making you doubt your own feelings and thoughts, and even your sanity, by manipulating the truth. For more information on how gas lighting works, visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
• Put-downs: calling you names or telling you that you’re stupid, publicly embarrassing you, blaming you for everything. Public humiliation is also a form of social abuse.
• Causing fear: making you feel afraid, intimidated or threatened.
• Isolation: limiting your freedom of movement, stopping you from contacting other people (such as friends or family). It may also include stopping you from doing the things you normally do – social activities, sports, school or work. Isolating someone overlaps with social abuse.
• Financial abuse: controlling or withholding your money, preventing you from working or studying, stealing from you. Financial abuse is another form of domestic violence.
• Bullying and intimidation: purposely and repeatedly saying or doing things that are intended to hurt you.

source REACH OUT.com

Culture is “the customs, civilization and achievement of a particular time or people.” Culture often determines the values, worldview, attitudes, behavior and practices of women and men from birth to death. 

Traditional African society looked upon women as perpetually dependent on males.  Women have to be protected and guided by men.  Women are often objects of exploitation, and a source of wealth to men who handle them like personal property. 

Yet, despite this cultural subordination, women in African tradition frequently occupy leading positions in divining, rainmaking and as mediums in prophesying, healing and counseling.  These occupations illustrate that women are given leadership in various spheres, even in cultures generally repressive towards women. 

Examples of culture and the treatment of women 

• Chicken wings—In Uganda, women cannot eat chicken wings.  Otherwise they would fly like a chicken and not be submissive, especially in bed. 
• Physical Abuse—In some cultures in West Africa, women are to be beaten at least once in three months in order to remain disciplined.  If they are not beaten, the women ask for it! 
• Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).  Some cultures say that a woman needs to go through FGM to be tamed, so that she does not become sexually promiscuous.  This primitive practice is still active. 
•  Marriage by abduction- is a practice in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry. The woman is enslaved by her abductor, raped and taken as his wife. Later she may suffer different types of violence.
•  Forced marriage- is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will

While most cultures seem to lower or reduce the value of women, at the same time culture often raises the value for men to threatening proportions.  For example, a Moran (Maasai young man) is expected to kill a lion to prove he is a real man.  The boy child is encouraged “never to cry.”

by Judy W. Mbugua