Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Where Are All The Ribbons?

My domestic violence training is now over, and I've learned a lot in the past several weeks, some of which I've highlighted here and here. Now that October is just about over, I'm left with a question: where are all the DV awareness month ribbons?

Domestic violence awareness month tends to be out-shined by breast cancer awareness month, and even though statistics vary, I've read that domestic violence affects about 1 in 4 women, and breast cancer affects either 1 in 6 or 1 in 8. So although it seems that domestic violence affects more women than breast cancer does, stats always vary, so lets say they roughly affect women equally.

So how come breast cancer awareness month is so much more prevalent? The most obvious answer is the massive public relations machine behind it. Pink is found on many women's products during October, and even NFL players deck themselves out in pink gloves, shoes, and get pink ribbons placed on their helmets and painted on their fields. The ubiquitous pink has gotten some criticism, to be sure, but mainly, people feel good about the fact that when they buy a product their proceeds are going to fight cancer (regardless if their money gets there or not).

So even though the PR machine behind breast cancer awareness month is much more vast and has been implemented longer than that for domestic violence awareness month, I can't help but wonder if there isn't more to it than that. The enemy is easy to identify with cancer, giving us all something to stand against. No one would defend cancer. Yet, domestic violence is still seen by many as a family/personal issue and victims are still blamed. The dynamics in domestic violence are complicated and diverse, and aren't as easy to identify and attack as cancer is.

When it comes to violence, whether a school yard fight or a war, people tend to see blame on both sides. But domestic violence isn't like this, and I don't think many people understand that. Plenty of people have the wrong idea about domestic violence, because with domestic violence, there is a villian, and that's the abuser. The victim doesn't deserve it, and isn't at fault.

Domestic violence is still a touchy subject, and isn't one people like to talk about. But the more we talk about it, the more we support the victims and erase the stigma of it, the safer victims will feel to leave their abusers. And that's good for everyone.