You may experience (or have experienced) domestic or dating violence from a current or former spouse or partner, someone you have dated, or someone you share a child with, if they ever:

• Treated you as their property or a sexual object;
• Acted extremely jealous or possessive;
• Isolated you from friends or family;
• Restricted or monitored your communication with others;
• Controlled your personal choices, such as what you wear or other aspects of your appearance;
• Denied, minimized, or blamed their violence on you, using stress, a “bad day,” alcohol or drugs, a medical condition, or other circumstances as justification;
• Used threats or intimidation to prevent you from attending. school or going to work;
• Controlled your finances;
• Made threats or intimidated you about your ability to get or keep your immigration status; or
• Controlled your access to important documents, such as financial, identity, immigration, or other important paperwork.

You may experience or have experienced a form of sex-based harassment (including sexual harassment, sexual violence, and other gender-based harassment) if someone has ever:

• Made lewd or inappropriate comments toward you, including unwelcome sexual innuendos and comments, sexually suggestive jokes, or requests for sexual favors;
• Touched you without your permission, including unwanted brushing up against you or groping you;
• Forced or intimidated you into performing or submitting to sexual acts through emotional manipulation, coercion, or physical force, even if the encounter was initially consensual;
• Engaged in unwanted sexual acts with you while you were asleep or under the influence of alcohol or drugs;
• Removed a condom without your consent during sexual activities (stealthing);
• Forced or intimidated you to perform or submit to sexual acts with others against your consent;
• Forced you to watch or be watched performing sexual acts; or
• Watched you getting undressed, showering, or doing other private acts without your knowledge.

You may experience or have experienced stalking if another student, a teaching or graduate assistant, a professor, a former or current intimate partner, an acquaintance, or anyone else has ever:

• Approached you or showed up in places you did not want them to be;
• Called or sent you unwanted voice, text, or electronic messages;
• Monitored or contacted you online (for example, through social media);
• Harassed your friends, family, or employer for information on your location;
• Created a fake social media profile online pretending to be you;
• Published private or identifying information about you publicly online;
• Shared intimate images of you without your consent (revenge porn);
• Given you unwanted gifts; or
• Made a call, text, or e-mail to you that appeared to come from somewhere else (spoofing).

Also called “technology-facilitated gender-based violence,” technology platforms, including social media, video conferencing technology, gaming apps, online streaming platforms, and more, can be misused to abuse, harass, or exploit. You may experience or have experienced online harassment or abuse if someone has ever:

• Distributed intimate digital images of you without your consent;
• Used e-mail, social media, or other electronic communications repeatedly to harass or frighten you (cyberstalking);
• Threatened to share a nude image of you online if you do not do what they want (sextortion);
• Released your private information, such as your phone number, address, and other sensitive personal information online without your consent (doxxing);
• Created damaging online content using fake audio or video of you that appears authentic (malicious deep fakes);
• Used false or misleading gender and sex-based narratives against women (gendered disinformation);
• Made rape or death threats against you online, including through messaging apps;
• Recruited or attempted to recruit or exploit you for sex work; or
• Engaged in any technology-facilitated intimate partner abuse against you.

You may be experiencing or be at risk of forced marriage if anyone has ever:

• Made you feel like do not have a choice regarding who or when you marry;
• Threatened to abandon or isolate you if you did not marry or if you tried to leave a marriage you did not consent to;
• Taken or threatened to take you out of school if you did not marry or if you tried to leave a marriage you did not consent to;
• Restricted or threatened to restrict your freedom, if you did not marry or if you tried to leave a marriage you did not consent to;
• Taken away your travel documents, identification, communication devices, or money or financial support to force you to marry or to stay in a marriage you did not consent to; or
• Closely monitored your communication through technology or other ways to prevent you from seeking help or support.

Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) refers to any procedure that partly or completely removes the external female genitalia or otherwise injures the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

If you have undergone FGM/C, you have not violated any laws. If you underwent FGM/C in the United States or outside the United States, this will not make you ineligible to travel to the United States or to receive immigration benefits from the United States. Your college or university may have medical or mental health services to help you with any issues stemming from undergoing FGM/C.

It is a federal crime to perform FGM/C in the United States on a person under the age of 18, or for the parent, caretaker, or guardian of a person under the age of 18 to help or consent to FGM/C being performed on them. It is also against the law to send or attempt to send persons under the age of 18 outside the United States so FGM/C can be performed on them. People who violate this law can face prison time and significant immigration consequences. Additionally, in some states, it is also against the law to perform FGM/C on a person 18 years old or older without their consent.

Traffickers often target individuals with few or no social support systems. As a university or college student, you may be away from home for the first time and trying to fit in with your new surroundings. This may make you more at risk of being targeted by traffickers. Traffickers often exploit individuals to compel a commercial sex act (commonly referred to as sex trafficking) or forced labor (commonly referred to as labor trafficking). You may experience or be at risk of experiencing human trafficking if someone has ever:

• Controlled your passport or other identification or travel documents;
• Made you live and work in isolated conditions, or otherwise stopped you from seeing people who might help you;
• Threatened you with deportation (legally called “removal”) or to get you in trouble with the U.S. government or police;
• Pressured you into performing sex acts for money, such as at a strip club, bar, or massage business;
• Pressured you to have sex with your romantic partner’s “friends” or others;
• Recruited you for a specific job that does not exist, and you are instead forced to do other work, including sex work;
• Monitored your movement or communication with others; or
• Not paid you what you were promised or are owed for a job, or used a debt to control you or limit your freedom.