Using a Women’s Online Network to Combat Abuse
Share and Stand Against Abuse on a Women’s Online Network
One of the benefits women derive from social networks is a chance to get a new perspective on a problem in their lives. This kind of support can be especially helpful for women in abusive relationships. Women who may be experiencing abuse would do well do join a women’s online network so they can increase the avenues of support and action to help them deal with and get out of a bad situation. Sometimes all it takes is the understanding of inspirational women with the wisdom of age to provide the needed motivation.
There are several clear warning signs that a relationship more likely than normal to turn abusive. If the partner asks intense questions about plans or attempts to control behavior, easily gets violently upset, makes constant demands on your time to meet his/her needs, or blames you for his/her mistakes and is overly critical or demeaning, you should worry about the possibility of an abusive relationship. Of course, these are just a thumbnail sketch of warning signs, which is why it is important to talk about the situation with someone, such as peers on a women’s online network, to help you figure out if your fears are warranted.
The underreporting of physical and verbal abuse makes it difficult to get specific statistics on abuse, and makes it even more important for women concerned about their relationships to seek feedback and a safe place to voice their concerns. Nonetheless, the data does suggest that abuse against women is an epidemic in the United States. A 1994 report by the Family Violence Prevention fund found that a woman is physically assaulted once every nine seconds, while the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics found in 1994 that 67% of all female victims of violence and physical assault were related to or knew their attacker.
Assuming that most cases of abuse, especially verbal and emotional, that occur in a relationship go unreported, that means somewhere around 800 women suffer abuse every day. Social networks, kinship networks, and women’s online networks offer women effective ways to avoid feeling alone with their abuse, and hopefully find the strength, support, and whatever else they need to get out of the abusive situation.
