FROM GIRLS FIGHT BACK: “I didn’t know then that 1 in 4 women are victims of intimate partner violence. I also didn’t know that, on average, a woman tries to leave her partner seven times before she succeeds. Abuse happens on a spectrum, and it happens slowly. Much like a lobster in a pot, you don’t know you’re in danger until the water is already bubbling around you. You’ve already been cooking for a while the first time you get hit; you just didn’t know it. What kind of person does end up in a relationship like that? Apparently, a person like me. And maybe even a person like you or like someone you know. It’s 1 in 4 of us, and that means it’s your friends, your sisters, your accountant, even the woman in the big house on the corner. It’s so frightfully common, yet we don’t talk about it, and we should. Shrouding abuse in shame and silence protects abusers, and it keeps people from asking for help.”
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Source: I Went Back To My Abuser After A Week. This Is Why It’s So Hard For Women To Get Out For Good. | HuffPost