Purple October: Creating Awareness and Taking Action in Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Trigger Warning: violence, abuse, assault

October is known as Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) in order to increase awareness through the spread of accurate information, provide useful resources to support and help survivors, and decrease stigma by addressing misconceptions. October is also now associated with purple, the chosen colour to wear in solidarity with survivors, due to its use in past movements for women who survived domestic abuse since it is commonly associated with femininity, royalty, and power.

Domestic violence is defined as “willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another,” (Rescue, 2020). This is unfortunately incredibly common nationally and around the world. Every minute there are approximately 20 victims of physical abuse at the hands of their spouse and over 10 million survivors every year. Every day hotlines receive over 19,000 calls. Statistically, one third of women and one quarter of men have experienced domestic violence with one in every five women and one in every seven men experiencing severe injuries from domestic violence. In the United States, every 9 seconds a woman will be subjected to some form of assault by either a current spouse or past romantic partner. Further, every day an average of three women are murdered by their spouse. The intersectionality between some of these vulnerable groups is particularly important to note since domestic violence is more common among women and other non-cis genders. Some statistics are that women with disabilities are 40% more likely to experience domestic violence; the rate for racialized populations such as Indigenous and Black women is about four out of ten women; the rate for bisexual women is about 61% and lesbian women is about 44%. This illustrates how alarmingly frequent domestic violence is and why we need to take action immediately.

There is a tendency for domestic violence to be silenced as there is shame and stigma surrounding the entire subject. This is reflected in phrases such as behind closed doors and has a lot to do with victim-shaming. Our society is obsessed with blaming and shaming victims due to our individualistic mindset. We often forget there are bigger factors influencing our lives such as systemic racism, the patriarchy, and capitalism. Therefore, there are many misconceptions that

victims and survivors deserved what happened to them or were asking for it. Further, it is believed that individuals in an abusive intimate relationship can leave easily if they really wanted to or needed to but this is not the case. There are a multitude of reasons a survivor cannot leave their situation or why they may return to the toxic relationship. This article will only list a few: detrimentally low and fragile self-esteem; the very nature of the abuse cycle with fluctuating extremes between idealization and devaluation; blame, guilt, and/or shame; serious threat and/or danger to the survivor or their loved ones. It is also particularly difficult to leave when children are involved due to custody issues and guilt associated with separating the family unit. One common tactic abusive partners tend to use to maintain control over their spouse is something called gaslighting, which is defined as a form of manipulation used to make the target unsure of themselves by undermining their perceptions, memory, and sense of reality. This also contributes to the survivor’s mentality and ability to remove themselves from the abuse. Therefore, it is a lot more difficult to leave an abusive relationship and maintain that distance, meaning that it requires a lot more strength than people give survivors credit for.

Unfortunately, this already common issue has been exacerbated by the current pandemic we are living in because of certain regulations such as lockdowns as survivors are then isolated further by law. This makes Domestic Violence Awareness Month even more important and the need to take action more imminent.

If you know someone who is currently a victim and survivor of domestic violence that trusts you, talking to the individual about what they want to do is important. You may be able to help them prepare for emergencies through the creation of a safety plan such as the free templates provided by the National Domestic Hotline. You can present the survivor with all of their options and provide further resources but avoid making decisions for them.

Many of the sites created to help survivors are really useful and include a quick exit button or notification that will either redirect the viewer to a completely unrelated site or will exit the window. There is also a reminder or warning that your history and internet usage may be tracked or monitored as well as the suggestion to use a safe computer or device that allows you to truly erase your history. This feature is incredibly valuable and beneficial to the user; however, not all survivors are able to access the internet or a safe computer, or any device for that matter, in the first place. This creates another problem in terms of accessibility for survivors and presents a challenge for those attempting to combat domestic violence. Therefore it is important to watch out for warning signs as the outsider to the intimate relationship.

In general, Purple October is the Domestic Violence Awareness Month and is used to raise awareness, provide adequate resources, address misconceptions, and decrease stigma in order to support survivors. This is such a prevalent issue that action is needed now to prevent and intervene. By informing yourselves, looking into resources, listening to survivors, and taking action you are standing in solidarity with survivors.

It is worth noting this article does not address any of the long-term effects of surviving domestic violence and is purely a general and informative writing piece to begin learning about the subject. Below are resources for anyone who may need them.

Resources:

1. National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1 (800) 799 7233 or text START to 88788 TeleTYpe (TTY): 1 (800) 787 3224

2. Assaulted Women’s Helpline: 1 (866) 863 0511

3. TeleTYpe (TTY): 1 (866) 863 7868

4. Talk 4 Healing Crisis Line: 1 (888) 200 9997

5. Talk 4 Healing Helpline: 1 (855) 554 4325

6. Hope for Wellness Line: 1 (855) 242 3310

7. DoD Safe Helpline: 1 (877) 995 5247

8. GTA Survivor Support Program: (416) 595 1716

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Sources:

• American Psychological Association. (2012). Intimate partner violence. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/topics/physical-abuse-violence/intimate-partner.

• American Psychological Association. (2014). Abuse of women with disabilities. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/topics/disabilities/women-violence.

• Awhl. (n.d.). Assaulted women's Helpline. https://www.awhl.org. Retrieved from https://www.awhl.org/.

• International Rescue Committee (IRC). October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. (2020, October 22). Retrieved from https://www.rescue.org/announcement/october-domestic-violence-awareness-month.

• National Day Calendar. (2019, April 10). National Domestic Violence Awareness Month - October. Retrieved from https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-domestic-violence-awareness-month-october/.

• National Domestic Violence Hotline. (2021, June 15). Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The Hotline. Retrieved from https://www.thehotline.org/stakeholders/domestic-violence-awareness-month/.

• NCADV: National coalition against domestic violence. The Nation's Leading Grassroots Voice on Domestic Violence. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ncadv.org/.

• Peterson, S. (2020, November 2). National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Retrieved from https://www.nctsn.org/resources/public-awareness/national-domestic-violence-awareness-month.

• Sullivan, K. (2021, January 20). October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The United States Department of Justice. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/archives/ovw/blog/october-domestic-violence-awareness-month.

• T, B. (2021). How women of color are impacted by domestic violence. Verywell Mind. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/domestic-violence-varies- by-ethnicity-62648#violence-among-non-white-groups.

• Women’s Program Office (2016, October). October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pi/about/newsletter/2016/10/domestic-violence.

• Women's Resource Center. (2018, June 7). Why purple for DVAM? Blog. Retrieved from https://www.wrcnbc.org/why-purple-for-dvam/.