a/n: Our earthshot research sprint, compiled in 45 minutes.

He holds me after breaking me, whispering that he never meant to, as if his regret could unmake the ruins of me. I wonder how much blood a body can lose before it stops calling itself alive.

1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. This includes a range of behaviours, including light as pushing, shoving, and slapping. In some cases, this might not be considered “domestic violence.” 1 in 7 women and 1 in 25 men have been injured by an intimate partner.

Estimates published by the World Health organization indicate that globally about 1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.

Nearly 20 people/minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this adds up to more than 10 million women and men.

More than one in six married women in each country that was studied reported being pushed, shaken, slapped, or targeted with a thrown object by their male partners. At least one in 10 has been threatened or publicly humiliated by their husbands. 42% of women who experience intimate partner violence reporting an injury as a consequence of this violence.

Country-specific

The percentages of women who said an intimate partner had ever abused them ranged from 48 percent in Zambia and 44 percent in Colombia to 18 percent in Cambodia and 19 percent in India. (A 1998 Commonwealth Fund study put levels of similar violence in the United States at 31 percent).

Impact on children

• Almost one-third of children in low-income and lower-middle-income countries have been exposed to IPV (intimate partner) in their lifetime
• Children who grow up in families where there is violence may suffer a range of behavioural and emotional disturbances. These can also be associated with perpetrating or experiencing violence later in life.
• Intimate partner violence has also been associated with higher rates of infant and child mortality and morbidity (through, for example diarrhoeal disease or malnutrition and lower immunization rates).