DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: DANGER SIGNS
BY Charlene Smith © June, 2003

WHEN TO PUT ON YOUR TAKKIES AND RUN

He phones you when you’re out with friends, just to check that you’re ok
He offers to take you and/or fetch you when you go out with friends
When you say you’re going out with friends, he looks disappointed and says, I had this great evening arranged for us/we don’t get to see enough of each other
He goes through your cellphone account and asks why you spent so long on certain numbers
He quizzes you on the male names in your cellphone directory
He checks your dirty underwear for signs of you being unfaithful
He checks the kilometers on your car and quizzes you about your mileage
He complains that your skirts are too short, your tops too revealing, your pants too tight (he might disguise this by saying, “your bum looks too big in those pants”)
You often worry that you’re going to say the wrong thing/make him angry
You apologise a lot
He doesn’t like you going on business trips, and if you do, he wants you back the same day
He likes weapons – guns, knives – and/or he has at some stage threatened you or someone else
He isn’t on good terms with previous girlfriends/partners

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