you can prevent gender-based violence when you:
Sexual violence, domestic violence, and stalking is happening across Wyoming.
We can take the time to learn about sexual violence and how our attitudes about it influence others.
Gender-based violence is any form of violence against an individual based on biological sex, gender identity or expression, or perceived adherence to socially defined expectations of what it means to be a man or woman, boy or girl. This includes physical, sexual, and phychological abuse; threats; coercion; arbitrary deprivation of liberty; and economic depravation, whether in public or private life. In addition, gender-based violence is rooted in gender-related power differences.5
Violence takes many forms, including intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child maltreatment, bullying, suicidal behavior, and elder abuse and neglect.
These forms of violence are interconnected and often share the same root causes. They can also all take place under one roof, or in a given community or neighborhood and can happen a tthe same time or at different stages in live. Understanding the overlapping causes of violence and the things that can protect people and communtiies is important, and can help us better address violence in all its forms.6
Gender-based violence is a pattern of behaviors used to gain or maintain power and control. The below "Power and Control Wheel" was developed by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth, MN. In the diagram, the Power and Control Wheel assumes she/her pronouns for the victim and he/him pronouns for the perpetrator, but the abusive behavior that it details can happen to people of any gender or sexuality.
The wheel serves as a diagram of tactics that an abusive partner uses to keep their victims in a relationship. The inside of the wheel is made up of subtle, continual behaviors over time, while the outer ring represents physical and sexual violence. Abusive actions like those depicted in the outer ring often reinforce the regular use of other, more subtle methods found in the inner ring.7
Sexual violence, domestic violence, and stalking perpetration impacts many areas of victims' lives, including the lives of the people close to them and their communities. It is worth our time to learn the truth about gender-based violence and how we can prevent it; we can learn about this on our own and by connecting with our local domestic violence sexual assault programs. In addition, the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault is available to provide education and resources to assist in mobilizing your community to prevent sexual violence.
1 Statewide Needs Assessment of Sexual Violence in Wyoming, Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault/Colorado Futures Center, 2023
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance.
3 Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014) Lifetime prevalence of rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner by state of residence.
4 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control, (2022)
5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ending Gender-Based Violence Globally, Global Health Center (2022)
6 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Connecting the Dots: An Overview of the Links Among Multiple Forms of Violence. (2014)
7 National Domestic Violence Hotline, Power and Control: Break Free From Abuse.