Intimate partner violence is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship, including acts of physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviors” (Krug et al. 2002). Within intimate partner violence, several types of abusive behaviour fall into broad categories of coercion and threats; intimidation; emotional abuse; economic abuse; using children; using male privilege; isolation; and minimizing, denying, and blaming. The abuse can be physical, verbal, and/or psychological.

While it is commonly understood that the causes for intimate partner violence (IPV) in cisgender heterosexual relationships are rooted in patriarchy, the motivations for IPV in gender- and sexually-diverse relationships are further complicated by internalized homophobia and transphobia, misogyny, trauma, and unresolved feelings of marginalization or what is also referred to as “minority stress” (Community-Based Research Centre 2023, p. 1).