Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime.
The quote as it appears on the website of the Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. Take from the Family Violence Prevention Fund. Read more stats online here.
If an act of domestic violence happens once, it is one time too many. The disease is a cancer eating away at society. It effects all women in all walks of life. Like cancer, there is not one single effective cure.
When we think of domestic violence we think of the stereotypical battered woman. If we close our eyes and come up with a picture of a woman with swollen eyes and battered, bloody lips. There may be cuts to her face or bandages.
Stereotypes are misleading. We know that yet we follow them anyway.
What we won't picture is the lady beside us in the grocery store or the cashier. We won't picture a doctor and probably won't picture a grandmother.
The stats tell us that 1:3 women worldwide will be abused. This means that victims can be lawyers, doctors, bank accountants, CPAs, checkout clerks, teachers, pastors wives or anyone. It may be whom we least expect.
To effectively combat domestic violence we have to open our eyes to recognize the victims. For some of us, we have only to look in the mirror.
The Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence has a risk assessment quiz available online. Taking the quiz takes only a minute. If you recognize any of these factors and you need to talk it gives you the phone number for the coalition. They can help answer your questions or get help.
Go ahead and take the quiz. It's online at this link. After you take it, call the coalition if you need to talk. We'll still be blogging online when you get back.
Those who need help but are outside of TN can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at www.ndvh.org or by call 1−800−799−SAFE(7233) or TTY 1−800−787−3224.
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