Stopping The Violence Against Women

On May 15th Bloggers Unite For Human Rights. Blog catalog has joined together with Amnesty International, a worldwide movement that campaigns for internationally recognized human rights. I've decided to join this campaign and help stop the violence against women.

At least one out of every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other type of manner in her life time. In the Untied States, a woman is raped every 6 minutes, battered every 15 seconds. These statistics are alarming.

In Europe domestic violence is the major cause of death and disability for women between the ages of 16 to 44.

Trafficking of women has become a global phenomenon where victims are sexually exploited, forced into labor and subjected to abuse.

We as people and humans need to stop the violence against women. It is a basic human right that women should be able to live in this world violence free. I want to thank Amnesty International for all the statistics.

I've decided to blog about violence against women because I'm one of those women that has survived. I decided to share my story in the hopes that it may reach someone out there who really needs help and I hope they seek the help they deserve. I don't really talk about it and I'm ashamed to say that I was physically and verbal abused as a teenager by my very first boyfriend. I was only 15 years when I met this man. He was 17 years old at the time. I was a very naive 15 year old. I had no idea that physical abuse existed. There was no type of violence in my family. How could I have known? I never witnessed this type of abuse. I stayed with this man until I was 19 years old and just couldn't take it anymore. I endured 4 years of this terrible abuse. I was subject to many injuries. Such as black eyes, broken nose and many many bruises and bumps. There were many times I would ask my self "Did I do something to provoke his anger?" The answer to that is NO. No matter how angry a person gets there is no reason to be abusive in any shape or form to another living creature. My mother tried several times to get me to break up with this man but of course what teenager is going to listen to a parent. I was very scared of this man and afraid he would do something awful to me if I broke up. One day my mom told me a story of a friend of hers that was in an abusive marriage and was pregnant. The women never did leave her husband to improve her life. But she did leave. Her husband beat her in the head with a rock until she died. I guess that was her way out. My mother explained to me that this type of thing will eventually happen to me one day if I don't get out. That was 20 years ago and I can still hear my mothers words. This story never left my soul and it forever changed my life. So, at 19 I did get out. I left this terrible man and was stalked until I was 24 years old. He finally left me alone after I got married in 1994. It was an extremely bad part of my life that I never want to relive. I look back at those years and I almost don't recognize who I was back then. Remembering is like watching a movie. A horror movie! I learned several years later that he got married to a woman who had a 5 year old daughter. He beat his wife and broke her jaw. He then beat up this woman's 5 year old little girl over $5.00. The last I heard he was in jail for this crime. All I could think was that this could of been me. I'm telling my story so that other women out there who are in an abusive relationship know there is help out there and there is a way out. Please don't subject your self or your children to this type of abuse. You can make your life better. You just need to take advantage of the resources out there that are available to you. I got out. So can you. This will never happen to me again. I will never ever take that type of abuse or any type of abuse again.

Today I'm married to a great guy and we have a 3 year old little girl. He is a fantastic husband and wonderful daddy.

Well that's my story. I know it's a sad topic but I hope it reaches someone out there that needs to hear it and I hope they seek help.