{"id":46049,"date":"2013-04-12T12:42:07","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T16:42:07","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-06-13T13:07:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T17:07:25","slug":"what-is-abuse","status":"publish","type":"publications-page","link":"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-is-abuse","title":{"rendered":"What is abuse?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Terms like &#8220;family violence&#8221;, &#8220;domestic violence&#8221;, &#8220;intimate partner violence&#8221;, and &#8220;violence against women&#8221;, are often used to describe abuse.<\/p>\n<p>There are different types of abuse.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Physical abuse<\/strong> happens when your partner, for example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>hurts you, your children, or your pet<\/li>\n<li>threatens or tries to hurt you, your children, or your pet<\/li>\n<li>forces you to do things you do not want to do, such as using drugs or alcohol<\/li>\n<li>breaks or does not let you use your assistive device such as your wheelchair or hearing aids, or does not give you your medicine<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Financial abuse<\/strong> happens when your partner, for example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>controls the family finances and refuses to give you money<\/li>\n<li>does not allow you to work<\/li>\n<li>threatens to call Ontario Works and tell them you are getting income assistance illegally<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sexual abuse<\/strong> happens when your partner, for example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>forces you to do things you do not want to do sexually<\/li>\n<li>involves other people in sexual acts without your consent<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Emotional or psychological abuse<\/strong> happens when your partner, for example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>insults, bullies, humiliates, threatens, blames, shames, or puts you down<\/li>\n<li>does not let you contact your friends or family<\/li>\n<li>controls your activities<\/li>\n<li>invades your privacy by reading your emails or texts or listening to your phone conversations<\/li>\n<li>takes away your identification or other important documents<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They may also threaten to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>have you deported from Canada<\/li>\n<li>take your children away from you<\/li>\n<li>hurt themself if you do not do what they want<\/li>\n<li>call the Children&#8217;s Aid Society and report you as a child abuser<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Cyber abuse<\/strong> is when your partner uses technology to harm or harass you. For example, by sharing private, intimate or sexual photos or videos of you without your permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-46049","publications-page","type-publications-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is abuse? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleo.on.ca\/en\/publications-page\/what-is-abuse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is abuse? - CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario \/ \u00c9ducation juridique communautaire Ontario)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Terms like &#8220;family violence&#8221;, &#8220;domestic violence&#8221;, &#8220;intimate partner violence&#8221;, and &#8220;violence against women&#8221;, are often used to describe abuse. 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