The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) provides those seeking help with a one-sheet about psychological abuse, including a list of warning signs, and statistics. Psychological abuse may accompany physical violence — 95% of men who abuse their partners physically will also do so psychologically — but it can stand completely alone, too. The hashtag #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou was created to talk about these situations.
Inspired by the hashtag, women have taken to Twitter this month to post about emotionally abusive relationships. The tweets usually lead with #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou and follow up with details of another type of abusive behavior, like excessive anger, jealousy, a need for absolute control, and manipulation.
According to NCADV, 4 in 10 people have experienced some kind of coercive control from an intimate partner. Sadly, #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou is raising much-needed awareness for a widespread problem.
This hashtag sheds light on the dangerous belief that abuse needs to be violent in order for it to be an urgent matter. As NCADV reports, 7 out of 10 women who have experienced psychological abuse show symptoms of PTSD and/or depression. Studies suggest that any kind of abuse — physical or emotional — has lasting effects. If more people are able to recognize the signs of an abusive relationship and talk about them, hopefully fewer people will be forced to live with abuse.
Read some of the most powerful tweets from #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou, below. For those who need help, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233.
#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou but he won't let you go home or see your friends very often or at all.
— Akilah Hughes (@AkilahObviously) May 9, 2016
#maybehedoesnthityou but he tries to control who you talk to, where you go, what friends you can have, and acts like it's out of love.
— sailor mourn ⚰ (@detricotage) May 9, 2016
#maybehedoesnthityou but he constantly criticizes your clothes, your makeup, your body, instructs you to work out and be more 'feminine.'
— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) May 11, 2016
#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou but he makes sure you believe that you're too broken/damaged to ever be wanted by anyone else
— Just Juanita (@Just_Juanita) May 9, 2016
#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou but he cheats left and right, and makes it feel like it's you're fault that he did it and that you can't leave
— lauren (@l0ve_lauren) May 11, 2016
#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou but he'd convince you to hate your parents & friends and to push them away completely because they didn't like him.
— Queen Bitch (@MacaelaRipley) May 11, 2016
#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou but he tells you he'll kill himself if you break up with him.
— Jenny Jaffe (@jennyjaffe) May 11, 2016
#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou but he never lets you forget that he could leave you for someone prettier, less "slutty," less emotional, less damaged.
— Ella Dawson (@brosandprose) May 9, 2016
#maybehedoesnthityou but you need his approval for everything and he treats you like property and not a person
— Keegan Kenzie (@Keegannnnn) May 9, 2016
#maybehedoesnthityou but he says you should be grateful he doesn't
— audrey honeydrone (@singing_ghosts) May 9, 2016
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