Domestic Violence or intimate partner violence can happen to anyone. There is no race, color or age criteria. The girl working on the register at your local supermarket can be a battered woman. The nurse treating your wounds in the emergency room could be a victim of intimate partner violence. It can even happen to the coach of your son’s basketball team.
According to The CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, Intimate partner violence alone affects more than twelve million people each year. On average, twenty four people per minute are survivors of rape, physical violence and stalking by an intimate partner in the United States (twelve million men and women) during the course of a year. Nearly one in four women and one in seven men have experienced severe physical violence by intimate partner in their lifetime. About one in five women and seven in five men who have experienced some form of domestic violence had their first experience between the ages of eleven and seventeen years old.A child has witnessed domestic violence in twenty two percent of intimate partner violence cases filed in state courts.
In the commercial Faces of Domestic Violence Bobbi Cordero portrays a young mother who has been abused by her partner in the presence of her young son. Jalen Hemphill portrays an adolescent in search of help. He is a victim of domestic violence that has ended up homeless because he rather run away than continue to be abused. Seven Overton plays a woman whose husband has taken all of her worldly possessions after abusing her. Ricardo Cordero portrays a victim of domestic violence that has to come to terms with the fact that although he is a man, he is also a victim. Regina Alston is the social worker who is trying so desperately to help all of these victims out of these terrible situations, all while covering up the fact that she is a victim of domestic violence herself. She covers the bruises given to her by her husband, portrayed by Karine “Sho Time” Thornton with concealer and foundation.
If you or anyone you know is the victim of domestic violence speak up and get help. A simple phone call can change your life.
Numbers to Call
The National Domestic Violence Hotline (800) 787-3224
Safe Horizons (800) 621-HOPE
WRITTEN BY REGINA ALSTON