Trapped. Hiding dark secrets. The monster waits. Don’t make a sound. If they hear you, they’ll hurt you.
These chilling phrases are not tag lines from this summer’s blockbuster thriller or horror flicks.
They are the very real descriptions of what domestic violence victims live with.
They often feel trapped, forced to live in silence. Keeping the dark secrets about what happens behind closed doors. Hiding from the monster they know as domestic violence. Afraid what will happen if they use their voice.
This year we are taking a bit of a twist on our annual summer movie review. We’ve collected a sampling of TED talks from people who are using the power of their voices to break the silence of Domestic Violence/ Intimate Partner Violence.
We hope these TED talks will educate, inspire and empower you to be a voice for women and children who aren’t heard and remain in the silence of Domestic Violence.
(Trigger Warning: These videos may contain material that can be triggering to victims of Domestic Violence.)
“Silenced” This short film could very well be the back story for many survivor experiences.
2. I LEFT ON A TUESDAY
“I chose this topic because violence against women is still seen as a taboo and more specifically a ‘women’s issue’ when really, it is everyone’s problem. I would like to challenge you to dispel any stereotypes they may have about abuse. If I can help just one person free themselves of an abusive relationship with my words, then that would be one less person living in unjust suffering. In the words of Maya Angelou: ‘Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women’.” Chiara Lisowski leaves us without words
3. WHY I STAYED, WHY I LEFT.
Through her talk Mada Tsagia-Papadakou shares how she got in an abusive relationship, why she stayed, how she left and how this dark side of her life, gave her the lights to pursue her work against violence and for defending women's rights.
4. THE COURAGE TO LEAVE
A powerful personal testimony from domestic abuse survivor Norah Casey on the complex and misunderstood reason why women stay in violent relationships. The real question, she says, is not why we stay but how do we leave. Having spoken to other domestic abuse survivors she charts what she believes are the four phases of an abusive intimate relationship from seduction to the final blow and the hardest (and most dangerous) part of all – having the courage to finally walk away.
I CHOOSE TO BE HER VOICE
Haylee Reay, describes how in a single day her life was brutally, and irrevocably, changed. Learn more about the seeping savagery of silence, and how you can save others by simply breaking it. Haylee Reay is an advocate for domestic violence awareness. She was born to two parents – one loving and one abusive. As a result, she was a victim of domestic violence at a young age. Since 2008 she has taken every opportunity to speak out to and on behalf of domestic violence victims
A MILE IN HER SHOES
Nobody chooses to be a victim of violent crime. Yet, when confronted with domestic or relationship violence, we commonly lay blame for the crime at the feet of the abused, rather than the abuser. Ryan explains how a simple change in our mindset can transform how we see the issue.
STOP SUFFERING IN SILENCE
Domestic abuse is no respecter of person, social class, colour or creed; this is the message that Marie Hanson brings to TED. She takes us through a moment of sheer terror when her abuser threatens to throw her baby out of the window. Forced to take refuge in her car with three small children, she has nowhere to turn. She eventually finds sanctuary in a shelter for women and discovers just how widespread the problem of domestic abuse is. Marie was eventually able to channel her own experience into support for other victims and their families and led to the foundation of her charity STORM.
FROM VICTIM TO SURVIVOR
The childhood trauma Lauren Book suffered robbed her of her childhood, but forced her to learn how to find her voice and rebuild her life with purpose…through her TED Talk, she challenges viewers to do what she’s been challenged to do through her journey from victim of physical, sexual and emotional abuse to struggling survivor and now thriver and internationally recognized advocate for change. Along the way, Lauren’s journey has often been three steps forward and ten steps back. Seeking to address and unearth the root cause of behaviors and decisions within her own life, and society’s take on child protection issues and child sexual abuse at large, Lauren explains how she found her driving force – her X – by choosing to face, instead of run from, some of her darkest places…and finding her (wh)Y?
#loveshouldnthurt #breakthesilence #bethevoice #silenced