Reunion Online

After several days of debate, the Senate voted on Tuesday to reauthorize and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in a 78 to 22 vote. The reauthorization includes protections for LGBT and Native American survivors. It also include the SAFER Act, which provides state and local governments with funding to audit the untested rape kits in their facilities and creates a national registry to help track those audits. It also amends current law to require a greater percentage of federal grant money be spent directly on analyzing untested rape kits. Next, VAWA will head to the House.

Even though 1 in 4 women and nearly one in 7 men are directly affected by domestic violence in the U.S., it remains a largely hidden epidemic. Because we all have a role to play in preventing violence—and because talking about it is one of the first steps to ending it—the Verizon Foundation and CBS Sportscaster James Brown are helping to get the conversation going during a special #YourVoiceCounts Twitter Chat before the Super Bowl on Thursday, January 31 from 4:00 – 5:00 pm ET.

2013 is just around the corner and we know now, more than ever, how necessary and important our work is. Thanks to supporters like you, in 2013 we will continue to heal and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse and the professionals who serve them. We will extend and grow our reach and we will respond to new community needs.

What would it be like if we, collectively, really saw surviving abuse or assault without blame, stigma or shame? Unafraid to listen to someone's story and unafraid to say "NO MORE?"

Our friends at the Verizon Foundation recently launched a new campaign called Your Voice Counts. The campaign is helping to break the silence around the issue of domestic violence by equipping bystanders?especially men?with tools to begin speaking up to prevent and end domestic violence.

On tonight's episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, you'll hear the SVU squad talking about a topic few people do, something called tonic immobility. It sounds complicated, but it's one of the body's most basic responses?the "freeze response"?that happens when an individual is in danger. In today's post, Dr. Rebecca Campbell, professor of community psychology at Michigan State University, discusses tonic immobility in the context of sexual assault.

Throughout history, we have watched visionaries change the world. Eli Whitney. Henry Ford. Steve Jobs. Not only did these people isolate a need, but they also found the right way to communicate how their innovation would benefit the world.

Peace Over Violence is in the midst of holding our third annual Summer Youth Leadership Institute on Violence Prevention. Twenty-five youth are participating in a month-long training learning about the dynamics of relationship and sexual violence and about healthy relationships. These youth are prioritizing violence prevention and learning skills and tools to take with them as they become leaders in their own lives and in their communities.

I was telling a friend recently about my emotional reaction the first time I heard the Joyful Heart Foundation’s PSA that talks about about engaging men to "end violence against all people, men women and children."

 I often find myself in awe, but somehow not totally surprised, that turning towards the issues sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse is often so hopeful, so joyful. Maybe you sometimes find yourself thinking the same. It's often inexplicable, or at the very least, difficult to put into words as to why this is. And it can certainly be a strange thing to feel—and to write at this very moment—but it's true. And last Wednesday evening was no exception.