Domestic Violence month as well!

In addition to October being Vegetarian and Breast Cancer Awareness month, it is also Domestic Violence Awareness month.

Earlier today I was driving along, listening to NPR as usual, and they had a really compelling program on the show, The State of Things. It featured a local non-profit organization, Hidden Voices, and focused on their new performance, "Speaking Without Tongues." The performance demonstrates the terror and shame of violence against women and "is based on true stories gathered across the state from women who have been, or still are being, abused."

The show spoke with some of the women performing in the play, survivors themselves of domestic violence, and it was just a really riveting program. It served as such a reminder to me of how different each story is and how it's not only the poor or uneducated that find themselves victims. The discussion also reminded me that we all have such a duty to both serve as examples and to raise our children to understand that strong women capable of asserting themselves and their opinions are still feminine and that men who (as one of the show's guests eloquently articulated) are gentle are still strong and masculine. The guest pointed out that we deprive our boys and men of so much when we teach them that violence, harshness, and subjugation of others are the only ways to demonstrate strength and masculinity. Her words really resonated with me .

You can listen to the program here.