About Me and My Intentions

We have learned in our sociological methods class the importance of understanding one's intersectionality.  This helps the individual to understand who they are, what angle they are approaching an issue from, and expose any biases that one might have.  So in an attempt to remain transparent, justify my beliefs and give the reader some understanding about this project I want to explore my own intersectionality.

Let me start by saying that I have never been a victim of domestic violence and I do not have any close relationships with anyone that has been in a violent relationship.   I am an only child, raised most of my life by a single mother that taught me to respect women, to respect people.  I am from New York, spending most of my childhood in Brooklyn.  I am a senior in college at Syracuse University.  I began this project as a group project for a sociological methods class.  "Why this topic?" you might think.  For me it began because of the Vera House White Ribbon Campaign, which is detailed in other posts on this sight.  Learning about the organization, listening to their campaign, and researching some of the facts made me want to learn more.  I explored many websites detailing the number of victims of domestic violence, I found personal accounts of people that have been abused, witnessed abuse, and been very close to abused people.  

After this project I thought about these outlets, websites, Vera House, support groups around the country and around the world.  I want to provide a voice.  I want people that don't know much about domestic violence to be able to come to this website, read, and learn.  Hopefully, they will then do their part to put an end to domestic violence.  No matter how big or small every change is important.  

For those that are more familiar with domestic violence I wanted to provide a forum.  A place where they can come, and tell people about the work they are doing to end domestic violence.  I wanted a place where victims could tell their own stories anonymously, so that others can clearly identify their own abuse and know they are not alone.  I wanted to provide facts to help dispel any myths and misconceptions.  I hope that people can come here read, learn, discuss, and then continue their research, change their lives, help one another.

Providing A Voice

Many victims of domestic violence never report their abuse.  Those that do speak out might never have their voices heard due to the necessity to remain anonymous.  Some people experience domestic violence at a young age and need to write down their words in order to deal with the difficult memories.  For those that lost their lives due to domestic violence their families might try to speak on their behalf.  The family members may not be able to deal with their emotions on camera and so they are forced to write down their thoughts.  This post was created to provide a voice for some of these people.  All of the written accounts were obtained from endabuse.org and were edited together.  Click here to see the unedited transcripts.

Domestic Violence Statistics