I’ve noticed a lot of people posting on the internet asking why we keep talking about dating violence and suggesting that we just move on. And I think to myself, “What?!! Move on?!!” How can we move on when one out of every three teens and young adults has experienced dating violence? I care about how people are doing and I want everyone to be happy and healthy so I am going to talk about this situation until more people get out of violent relationships and violence rates go down.
I also noticed some people complaining that the media is only discussing this because of what has happened recently to certain celebrities. I agree that it is sad that most people only started paying attention to this issue because of the news stories, but I wrote a doctoral thesis about dating violence well over a decade ago and have been doing research on relationship violence for over fifteen years so this is not a fad issue for me. When it comes to this topic, I am not here today and gone tomorrow. I am not on a media bandwagon trying to take advantage of someone else’s misfortune, I am hoping to educate while people are paying attention. Personally, I am glad that the media is talking about this issue because we are finally getting the badly needed information and resources out there to the invisible people who have been needing it but weren’t being seen or heard. Believe me, soon enough the time will come again when nobody talks about this or wants to talk about it and the victims of violence will be forced back into the shadows of secrecy to search for support. Maybe all of this talk will save a life, or make a violent one peaceful again.
Whatever you are struggling with today–stay strong! You are not invisible or forgotten in my mind:)
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