What is IPV? Understanding Impacts on Health and Menstrual Wellness

What is intimate partner violence or IPV?

"Intimate partner violence (IPV) is abuse or aggression that occurs in a romantic relationship. Intimate partner refers to both current and former spouses and dating partners.

IPV can vary in how often it happens and how severe it is. It can range from one episode of violence to chronic and severe episodes over multiple years.

IPV can include any of the following types of behavior:1

Physical violence is when a person hurts or tries to hurt a partner by using physical force.
Sexual violence is forcing or attempting to force a partner to take part in a sex act, sexual touching, or a non-physical sexual event (e.g., sexting) when the partner does not or cannot consent.
Stalking is a pattern of repeated, unwanted attention and contact by a partner that causes fear or concern for one's own safety or the safety of someone close to the victim.
Psychological aggression is the use of verbal and non-verbal communication with the intent to harm a partner mentally or emotionally or to exert control over a partner."

CDC. (n.d.). Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance. https://www.cdc.gov/intimate-partner-violence/communication-resources/intimatepartnerviolence.pdf

What is sexual violence or SV?

"Sexual violence is any sort of harmful or unwanted sexual behaviour that is imposed on someone. It includes acts of abusive sexual contact, forced engagement in sexual acts, attempted or completed sexual acts with a woman without her consent, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, threats, exposure, unwanted touching, incest, and others.

Sexual violence can include the following:

Sexual harassment may involve any conduct of a verbal, nonverbal or physical nature, including written and electronic communications. Sexual harassment can take a variety of forms – from looks and words though to physical contact of a sexual nature. Examples of sexual harassment include sharing sexual or lewd anecdotes or jokes; unwelcome touching, including pinching, patting, rubbing, or purposefully brushing up against another person, repeatedly asking a person for dates or asking for sex and making sexual comments about appearance, clothing, or body parts, among others.
Rape is any non-consensual vaginal, anal or oral penetration of a sexual nature of the body of another person with any bodily part or object, including through the use of physical violence and by putting the victim in a situation where they cannot say no or complies because of fear. This can be by any person known or unknown to the survivor, within marriage and relationships, and during armed conflict.
Corrective rape is a form of rape perpetrated against someone on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. It is intended to force the victim to conform to heterosexuality or normative gender identity.
Sexual violence in conflict: Acts of violence against women include violation of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict, such as systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy, as well as forced sterilization, coercive/forced use of contraceptives, female infanticide and prenatal sex selection."

UN Women. (n.d.). FAQs: Types of violence against women and girls. https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/faqs/types-of-violence#:~:text=Sexual%20violence,-Sexual%20violence%20is&text=It%20includes%20acts%20of%20abusive,touching%2C%20incest%2C%20and%20others.

Statistics on IPV & SV

In simple terms, it puts a long-term stress in the body.

If we dig a little deeper into the emerging science found in Functional Medicine,

we consider this to be Nervous System Dysregulation- which affects our communication, movement, and thought processing.

To combine this with ancient wisdom, it means that our root chakra (at base of spine) and our sacral chakras (reproductive organs) are impacted, causing blockages that result into disease.

Our root chakra represents our connection to the earth.

It's what gives us nourishment, and access to grounding energy (which is necessary for a healthy menstrual cycle). When we have blockages in our root chakra, it means that we are unable to receive, and therefore we are unable to rest...

And what is a main characteristic of a dysregulated nervous system?

Not being able to rest- because our nervous system is stuck on flight or fight mode.

We're hypervigilant because we see threats to our safety all around us.

And this isn't just something that our minds "make up".

These threats are real to us, because our past experiences confirm it.

Homes are meant to be a space of safety, of calm, and of nourishment.

Instead, the reality is that the people that are meant to keep us safe,

are the ones that lead us to the greatest danger, which is

disconnecting us to our life center or sacral chakra.

So how is the sacral chakra impacted by IPV and SV?

The uterus is an incredible organ that has the ability to create life- and so, when our safety is taken away from us, and our boundaries are crossed, we are left with an entire organ system that goes into dysfunction, because it does not feel safe.

At the Kali Clinic, we believe that SV is the most hurtful experience a female can go through... Acknowledging the facts above, we realize that to some extent, we are all impacted by this.

And as a result, the systemic feeling of being unsafe repeatedly then shows up in our menstrual health. This is how to get to chronic illnesses like PMDD, Endometriosis, and PCOS.

This feeling of being unsafe also affects our relationship to future partners, family members, finances, career, and more.

It prevents us from living the life we truly desire, and we end up accepting much less than we deserve, because ultimately, we are only trying to survive.

How does IPV/SV impact my health?