Domestic violence is a very well known problem in the United States, as well as a problem loaded with statistics. Around three women will be killed by their spouse every day. One in four women admit to having been or currently being abused by a boyfriend or husband. 248,300 rapes and sexual assaults were reported in the United States in 2007, up 57,700 from the 190,600 re-ported in 2005. These are just some of the many statistics out there about dating and domestic vio-lence (from futureswith-outviolence.org).

An organization known as Safe Voices exists today with stations all across the United States. I got a chance to inter-view Diane Gallagher of

men. There have been some studies done re-cently that looks at when women have gotten arrested for domestic violence, and they, just like when they work with men, factor in context. When women abuse men, quite often it’s reactive violence, like as a result of having been a victim of violence... There are some women who are considered batterers, who will use power of control over their partner in this course of behavior.

Why might somebody abuse their partner?DG: It is a learned behavior, that someone has a belief system that they feel entitled... it’s a learned behavior that they get from lots of different places. (After the interview, Diane

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

the Lewiston Safe Voices about some of the more important to know facts about domestic violence.

What is classified as domestic violence?Diane Gallagher: Domestic violence is a pattern or course of be-haviors where one person is choosing to use power over another, and that includes physical, sexual, intimidation, emotional, and verbal, and it usually has to include the threat of violence.

Is it only women who can experience domestic violence?DG: Eighty five percent of what gets reported is male violence against women, and the other fifteen percent is same sex relationships and women’s violence against

By Mariah Haggan

emailed me to say that it could also be due to a feeling of male privilege and the belief that more rights and abilities than women).

Who can you go to to talk about this prob-lem?DG: There’s Safe Voices, which is the domestic violence project, which provides services to victims or anyone who has questions in Frank-lin, Androscoggin and Oxford county. There are also other people who have other information, and you can look online.

How do you know the difference between do-mestic violence and an argument?DG: Domestic violence is that pattern of coercive behavior, so if some-one calls you a name or flings a plate on the floor, doesn’t mean that they’re an abusive person. It means that they’re just a jerk. Sometimes you have people who are just

jerks. There’s something called a power control wheel, where a person will shift from one tactic to another, and you feel like that person will do whatever they need to do to get what they want... it’s all very complicated.

Are there shelters for people to go to?DG: There are shelters in Maine for people who feel like they’re in im-minent danger.

When is the help line available?DG: The helpline is available twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and it’s staffed by volunteers and ad-vocates... the person at the answering service will ask if it’s safe to call back and then they would page the advocate, who would then be able to call back. If the per-son said it wasn’t safe to call back, the answering service would patch them through to the advocate so they wouldn’t lose the

connection.

What is the help line’s number?DG: 1-800-559-2927

What does your orga-nization do to bring awareness to the issue?DG: We have a domestic violence task force in all three counties... we’re encouraging everyone to be a part of the conversa-tion.

Photo courtesy of http://note-noughgood.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/domestic-vio-lence-purple-ribbon.png