It's more common than you might think. Per the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence: a third of all women and a quarter of all men will be a victim of violence by an intimate partner sometime in his or her lifetime, a fifth of all women become rape survivors and one in seven women will be stalked at one point in her life (for men, that number is one in 18).
That survivors of such acts don't often report them to authorities is similarly stunning. Victims of rape, for example, are believed to report these incidents an estimated 36 percent of the time.
"Domestic violence and sexual assault are issues that still remain in the shadows of society," Kenneth Gibson, a spokesman for Crisis Center Tampa Bay, told CL in an email. "Overall, people don’t want to talk about it and they are afraid to ask for help. There’s an opportunity for this next generation of young adults to impact our culture and help address the stigma of these issues."
Local high school students want to do just that. So on Friday night, they plan on using a girls' basketball game at Plant High to draw attention to an problem that thrives in silence.
The match between Plant and Steinbrenner highs starts at 6:30 p.m., and advocates plan to pack the stands. They're asking all attendees — students, teachers, parents, volunteers — to sit in total silence. That is, until Plant scores its ninth point, when they say the audience will "erupt" as a means of "sending the message that we must break the deadly silence about these forms of violence."
Gibson said it was Katie Cassedy, then a student at Robinson High, who came up with the idea after meeting someone who lost a niece to domestic violence. Cassedy is now in college, but she "passed the torch" her younger sister Carolina, a senior at Robinson. With help from a Tampa Bay Lightning Foundation grant, Crisis Center Tampa Bay has formed a "Get Loud!" youth committee to help get similar events going in other schools.
While it's largely "about victims and their friends communicating and seeking help," the campaign's organizers also hope to reach younger generations with a message of zero tolerance when it comes to "power-based violence," i.e., dating violence or stalking.
The idea originated before the #MeToo movement began to sweep across the country in October, but Gibson said the movement could certainly bolster Get Loud!'s message.
On January 30, students will hold a similar observance during a game at Wiregrass Ranch High School; another will follow at Robinson High School January 30.
This article appears in Jan 25 – Feb 1, 2018.
