There is a trigger warning for this post. It contains talk of violence and domestic abuse.
Let’s start with some stats and facts.
Around 9% of women aged 16 years and over experienced domestic Abuse in the last year.
1 woman every 3 days is killed by their partner.
Around 70% of victims of Domestic Abuse are Women.
Domestic abuse makes up 18% of all reported crimes in England and Wales.
Many people will not realise the impact of domestic abuse and violence until it has happened to themselves or someone close to them, and most people don’t realise how common it is for a woman to be abused.
It can be hard to comprehend what can happen to women and girls behind closed doors. I know this first hand.
When my Mother and I were going through abuse from my Father, we hid it very well. Many people, even neighbours and my friends from school and college, didn’t know what was happening to me when other people couldn’t see. Abusers themselves create an image for the outside world, and it can be hard to see past that. Victims are told it is their fault, so they hid it out of embarrassment.
This is why it is so important to spot even the smallest of signs. Most people wouldn’t see the signs because abuse isn’t spoken about as much as we should talk about it. It is not something to ignore. You are not being nosy or getting involved. You could be saving a woman’s life.
This violence needs to be stopped. We can bring these stats down. No more women need to be hurt or killed. We need to be able to live our lives with no fear. We should be able to let our daughters live with no fear.
The Coastal Mummy 