By Marley Malenfant/se news editor
Students learned about the dangers of domestic violence and why the matter often goes unaddressed at a SE Campus seminar Sept. 18.
“The purpose of this seminar is to get people to be aware of domestic violence that may be right under their nose,” said Heidi Swan, the guest speaker.
Swan is the domestic violence director at the Arlington location for Safe Haven, a domestic violence shelter and resource center.
“I want to reduce the hurt, bitterness, anger and all other things out of violence,” she said.
Swan said men are often thought of as the people who abuse others, but women can also be the instigators.
“Sometimes men will physically attack their spouse because they are verbally abusing their husband,” Swan said. “It becomes a back-and-forth situation.”
Not always physical, abuse frequently starts as verbal, she said. Often, abusers don’t realize they are abusive.
“An abuser won’t confront their wrongdoings,” she said. “An abuser may just be repeating what he or she has seen in their childhood and do the same because that’s all they know.”
Abused women have a hard time leaving the person they are with because they may be afraid to start over, she said.
“Women go back because the man pays the bills and is putting food on the table,” Swan said.
SE student Juaneta Johnson said people need to be aware of domestic abuse.
“People don’t look at it till it affects them,” Johnson said. “I help people who deal with abuse at my church. If I didn’t do that, I probably wouldn’t pay attention to it.”
SE student Lacey Bridges said it’s hard for people who have been abused to come out about it because they often don’t have scars on the outside.
“Verbal violence affects you mentally where your scars don’t show,” Bridges said. “You feel like you’re not a victim of abuse because you don’t have the visual elements.”
