Red Flags on Kresge & Domestic Violence Awareness

[Tamar N Weseley]

​

Dear Undergrads,

One year ago, UA Student Support and Wellness in conjunction with Violence Prevention and Response (VPR) launched The Red Flag Campaign at MIT to raise awareness of intimate partner violence (IPV), otherwise known as relationship abuse. We brought the campaign back this year with our red flag display.

We installed 5,660 red flags on Kresge, representing the number of MIT undergraduate and graduate students who statistically will experience psychological abuse <http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_report2010-a.pdf> by an intimate partner within their lifetime. 

Relationship abuse is defined as a repetitive pattern of behaviors to maintain power and control over an intimate partner. Abuse is a spectrum of violence and includes verbal, emotional, physical, psychological, financial, or sexual abuse. To learn the warning signs of an abusive relationship and how to help a friend who is being abused, check out the "Resouces For Seeking Help" section on redflag.mit.edu <http://redflag.mit.edu/>
Additionally, VPR has brought the Silent Witness Project <http://www.silentwitness.net/> to the student center to highlight the stories of victims who died due to Domestic Violence during this calendar year in Massachusetts. The exhibit is comprised of wooden statues shaped like people, to represent the specific individuals whose stories they portray. The stories are difficult to read, but they are powerful and important to remember so that we continue to educate ourselves about Domestic Violence and work towards reducing its prevalence. 

We may think that members of our community do not or will not experience IPV / Domestic Violence, but statistically that cannot be true <http://ncadv.org/learn-more/statistics>: On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States -- that’s 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men within their lifetime. It is up to us to reduce those numbers on our campus, and that begins with education and intervention.

While it’s true that relationship violence is a complex problem that cannot be solved by campaigns, the message is that there are countless steps we can take in our daily lives to stop someone who is being abusive, or to help someone who is being victimized. 

Speak up. Speak out. Say Something.

Thank you,
Tamar & Daniel
UA Student Support and Wellness
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