- glamour.com/tell-somebody/2011/05/relationship-violence-the-secret-that-kills-4-women-a-day
- glamour.com/tell-somebody/2011/05/how-you-can-help-put-a-stop-to-relationship-violence
- glamour.com/tell-somebody/video/2011/05/tell-somebody-help-put-an-end-to-relationship-violence
- glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/smitten/2011/05/tell-somebody-one-relationship-3.html
Provide names of other journalists involved.
Liz Brody, Wendy Naugle, Cindi Leive– with sidebars by Liz Welch
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Jun-11
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
On May 3rd, 2010, Yeardley Love, a 22-year-old University of Virginia lacrosse player, was found dead in her apartment. When police arrested her ex-boyfriend for her murder, her name would be added to a tragic list that included Sylvie Cachay, 33, strangled and drowned in a Soho hotel bathroom; Samantha Miller, 34, shot in the head near a Tennessee Army base; and more than 1,400 additional single women killed by their partners that year. While federal agencies have celebrated a drop in intimate-partner homicides, Glamour discovered, during a six-month investigation, that for women who are dating–as opposed to married–the murder-by-partner rate is actually climbing. How can this be happening despite all of women’s gains in society? And why are so few people talking about it? Those questions were the genesis of Glamour’s ambitious Tell Somebody campaign: an in-depth report on dating violence based on original research and real stories; the exact words that could help a friend–and where to take her when she’s ready for help; advice from a former abuser; a joint interview with Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden–their first in print since the inauguration; informational online videos with actresses Ashley Greene and Emma Stone; and a call to raise funds for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. “Glamour’s original research–a Harris Interactive survey of more than 2,500 women ages 18 to 35–brought to light stunning new statistics, among them that nearly 60 percent of women have been abused in some way by their partners. More disturbingly, 30 percent did not recognize dangerous behavior–including being slapped, strangled, and threatened with a knife–as “relationship violence.” The surprising reason? Young women today “see [this] in the same way they see obstacles they’re tackling at work,” says Kenya Fairley of the National Resource Center for Domestic Violence. “So if a boyfriend criticizes her, she thinks, ˜I can handle it.’” Sadly, we found that more than one third of women have known someone in an abusive relationship–but never said anything to that person or to authorities. Their comments fueled the ultimate, singular goal of this project: to encourage women to speak up–both to ask for help and to offer it without judgment.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
* We collected and analyzed data from an original Glamour survey of more than 2,500 women ages 18 to 35 conducted online by Harris Interactive, which informed our report. *We used government data on relationship violence, including numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which former fellow James Alan Fox, Ph.D, exclusively analyzed for us. Fox’s analysis showed that while overall rates of intimate-partner homicides have fallen, for many of our readers––women who are dating––the rate is actually climbing. * We gathered court documents (judgments, hearing transcripts, restraining orders, police reports) to substantiate every survivor’s story. * We consulted journal studies (in neuroscience, sociology and psychology) to help explain new findings about the dynamics of relationship abuse.
Explain types of human sources used.
* In a unique collaboration, we convinced five prominent domestic-violence organizations to work together to discuss our goals and advise us on our Harris survey. * We arranged for the National Family Justice Center Alliance to help us question more than 60 survivors through their centers across the country. These results gave us the exact words that had helped women survive abusive relationships. * For background expertise, we spoke to statisticians, psychologists, attorneys, police officials, neuroscientists and advocates, as well as Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden in the White House.
Results:
Based on media impressions, tens of millions of people heard or read our Tell Somebody message. Partnering with Avon, we raised $200,000 for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. And we may have prevented the next Yeardley Love, as these reader letters demonstrate: “I am 18 years old and have been a victim of DV,” wrote reader Mindi Steiner. “I have been having thoughts of returning to my ex-boyfriend, but this article made me realize that I do not deserve that treatment.” Courtney Fields emailed to say, “I was able to help my friend see what was happening to her because of the resources I found online and at your website… I had noticed the warning signs before but didn’t know how to bring it up.” And from Neeki Rodriguez: “I had cut ties with my sister, who is trapped in an abusive relationship. I couldn’t bring myself to watch anymore. But after reading your article, I realized I may be her only chance of getting out… I called her today and told her I loved her. Thank you.”
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
None.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Gathering support from the domestic-violence advocacy community was enormously helpful in defining our goals, using appropriate language in our survey, and finding survivors who would talk to us. In talking to people who have suffered abuse, it’s often necessary to do several interviews to cultivate trust.