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October
You can give underserved victims of domestic
violence a lifeline
Getting people to vote for a
community effort is every bit as hard as getting
people to contribute cash. Maybe even harder,
because so many figure the internet is so big,
there are so many people – surely plenty of
other people will take the time, and my single vote
won’t mean much.
That’s really not
true, because in this case especially, we have a
small group to begin with. People just don’t
realize the extent of the need for this project.
Neither do they realize how much one person can do
to help it along.
Without going into a
complex explanation of how things like blogs,
Twitter and Facebook work, what I will say is this:
each person voting has the potential to influence
hundreds, or even thousands of others. That’s
because the Pepsi Challenge has provided several
ways for each voter to also engage their
blog’s readers, their FB friends, their
Twitter followers, who in turn have their own
networks of different people.
In other words, you
don’t have to know a lot of people online,
because you have friends who do.
So, you already know the
importance of your help in this, but what is this
project, anyway?
Jan Brown says it better
than I ever could:
“Studies
show that men who
are in relationships with abusive partners do
not see themselves as victims of domestic
violence .
Domestic violence has been so narrowly defined
in our society that most people, including
abused men, believe that it begins and ends with
men beating their intimate female
partners.
Many men who suffer
physical, emotional, psychological, financial,
and/or sexual abuse at the hands of their
intimate partners do not realize that this, too
is domestic violence . They will usually write
it off as their partner having a bad day or feel
that they must have done something to deserve
the abuse.
Further, agencies that
offer a myriad of supportive services and
shelter to victims of domestic violence do
little to encourage abused men to come forward
and seek help. Few offer outreach to male
victims.
The Domestic Abuse
Helpline for Men and Women is hoping to change
that with the first national public awareness
campaign on male victims of domestic violence.
We have entered the Pepsi Refresh Project. We
are seeking a $250,000 award from Pepsi for our
project idea to bring public awareness to male
victims of domestic violence. This funding will
enable us to send outreach materials (brochures,
posters, booklets and placards) about male
victims to 7,500 agencies that work with victims
of domestic violence across the
country.
In order to obtain this
$250,000 award we need your help. The public
determines, through voting on their favorite
project ideas at the Pepsi site, who wins.
Please click
on this link
to vote for our project idea!
Voting goes from
Aug.1st to Aug. 31st. Remember to vote DAILY and
ask your friends and family members to do the
same. Thank you for helping us to bring
awareness and services to victims and their
families.
Because abused men need
awareness and services too.
We already know that this
information is wanted and needed. A good percentage
of calls to the Helpline come from those very
agencies Jan mentions, whose main experience has
been working with women. They want to know what
they can do for men.
Because of the antiquated
laws and policies in place, DAHMW does not get any
of the billions of dollars that flow to domestic
violence programs each year. They must rely on
private donations and campaigns such as
Pepsi
Challenge
in hopes of keeping services for men
available.
If this effort succeeds,
it has the potential to cause a sea change in the
way the public at large sees domestic violence, and
thousands of families nationwide could begin to
heal.
©2010, Trudy W.
Schuett
* * *
Trudy W.
Schuett is an Arizona-based online veteran with 10
years in cyberspace; an author and multiblogger.
She has held workshops on blogging, writing, and
promo for writers at the New Communications Forum
and Arizona Western College, and has participated
in world blogging events such as Global PR Blog
Week. She is also an advocate for unserved victims
of domestic violence. She is is the author of three
novels, two how-to books and eight blogs. Note:
Books are currently out of print, but two appear in
blog form. She currently publishes New Perspectives
on Partner Abuse at partnerabuse.com.
She has a video at her site that provides a look
into the circumstance of a few men. Entitled,
Husband
Beaters
It is in five parts and was part of the Secret
Lives of Women series on the WE network. She
publishes the AZ
Rural Times
and New
Perspectives on Partner
Abuse ,
she is on Twitter
and Facebook
She lives in Yuma AZ, with her husband, Paul.
desertlightjournal.blog-city.com/
or E-Mail.
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