7/1/10

Texting and Dating Violence


The blogosphere erupted this week regarding a recent article from the Washington Post about the connection between texting and Domestic Violence. At Sojourn, we are extremely interested in new forms dating and domestic violence takes, so naturally this conversation caught our eye.

The Post article is couched in the widely reported and horrific -- but not uncommon -- story of Yeardley Love and her abusive boyfriend George Huguely who murdered her on May 3rd of this year. As it turns out, Huguely exhibited extensive abusive behavior that went unreported. This abusive behavior included threatening and relentless calls, texts, and emails -- just now being uncovered by the police . Huguely's extensive methods of abuse are now becoming a useful method in evaluating the severity of his malicious behavior.

This crime serves as a case study for both the extensive abuse achievable through technology as well as how technology can assist in proving abusive behavior by saving threats in emails and text messages.

Obviously in Love's case, the potential positives of recording abuse are entirely outweighed by the horrific dating violence she endured and ultimately her death. Perhaps, however, the ability to record abuse might make it easier for survivors of DV to prosecute the people who abuse them.

This issue highlights the fact that when combating DV it is important to constantly rethink and reevaluate the context in which DV is perpetrated. At Sojourn we intend on staying on top of all tactics abusers utilize.

Also, we are always relieved when dating violence and domestic violence are addressed in larger public forums. This is the issue of our time and gets far too little public attention considering the millions of lives impacted by relentless abuse.

(Image via Google Images)

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