Hollywood actress and celebrity Kiera Knightley, recently released a video called Cut where she is drawing attention to the dangers of domestic violence. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), one in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. Also, the Federal Bureau of Investigation national crime statistics has indicated that police reports show one-third of female homicide are committed by an intimate partner.
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence defines the problem:
Battering is a pattern of behavior used to establish power and control over another person with whom an intimate relationship is or has been shared through fear and intimidation, often including the threat or use of violence. Battering happens when one person believes that they are entitled to control another.
Intimate partner violence in intrinsically connected to the societal oppression of women, children, people of color, people with disabilities, people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans, elders, Jewish people, and other marginalized groups.
While oppression functions in similar ways regardless of which group is targeted, different target groups have unique experiences of oppression stemming from their specific historic, cultural and social experiences and realities. The work to end domestic violence must necessarily include the fight against all oppressions.
Domestic violence may include not only the intimate partner relationships of spousal, live-in partners and dating relationships, also familial, elder and child abuse may be present in a violent home. Abuse generally falls into one or more of the following categories: physical battering, sexual assault and emotional or psychological abuse, and generally escalates over a period of time. Read More
View Keira’s video which visually defines the problem:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4RjsqPYaS0[/youtube]
