According to dosomething.org:
• Domestic/dating violence is a pattern of controlling behaviors that one partner uses to get power over the other. Including: physical violence or threat of physical violence to get control, emotional or mental abuse and sexual abuse.
• 85% of domestic violence victims are women.
• 1 in 4 women worldwide will experience domestic/dating violence in their lifetime. Women between the ages of 20 to 24 are at greatest risk of becoming victims of domestic violence.
• Domestic violence is most likely to take place between 6 pm and 6 am.
• The costs of domestic violence amount to more than $37 billion a year in law enforcement involvement, legal work, medical and mental health treatment, and lost productivity at companies.
To help bring awareness to this serious problem, not only in the United States but world-wide, tennis star Serena Williams, is lending her voice to the cause, inspired by her daughter Olympia.
“These women probably can’t use their voice so it’s important for them to know that there are people out there that are using their voice and letting them know that there is a place, that we can do something about it,” Williams said at an event for the Allstate Foundation’s Purple Purse initiative national street art campaign.
“Having a daughter means that she’s one in four,” the superstar sited the statistics that hit close to home. “Hopefully those stats don’t go up by the time she’s dating and meeting people, but they can if you don’t make people aware of it.” Williams goes on to say, “[Domestic abuse] is a subject that people are not really comfortable talking about, but sometimes talking about the uncomfortable is what we have to do. We’re doing that now with Me Too, with Times Up, and I feel like we’re making those steps. We want to make this a movement.”
If you are a victim or no someone that is, don’t suffer in silence. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. They are there to support, be a resource, and give advice for your safety.
