You know, when Lene asked me to write a share post about Domestic Abuse.... I was a bit taken back. I wondered what would this have to do with RA and support? And, frankly, I knew nearly nothing about it. I was raised in a Christian household, I respect my Grandma, Mother, Sister and Wife and would never DREAM of injuring or attacking them. I would prefer to toss myself off a bridge than ever raise a hand to any woman. Just the thought..... I am, even with Severe RA, a foot taller and a good 100#s heavier than most women I know, and much stronger.... gives me the creeps! This is something you see on COPS or the nightly news, not something in my life.

I started researching the subject and found out how little I really do know about the subject. I started with a link Lene sent me, about the White Ribbon Campaign to end violence against women. You can find the story here. Now I am not about to try to get my wife's stiletto heels to fit my size 13 1/2 RA feet, but what a great idea this is to raise awareness! 500+ men showed up to support the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event that goes on every year in multiple locations. I now wanted to know more and dug deeper.

I was saddened to hear the founder of this movement, Jack Layton, passed away earlier this year after 20 yrs of driving the message home that violence against women is not acceptable. Reading into posts about him I found this article that hit home with me. "I have talked to many men who never otherwise would have understood the positive role they could play in working to end violence against women, if it weren't for Jack. Handing out ribbons in Union Station, making donations, offering up everything from office space to websites, few people could effectively say no to him when it came to the WRC." You can find the entire article here. This opened my eyes, just because this type of violence has never entered my life, does not mean it is not something that sorely needs addressed. I compared it to RA actually, before I was DXd with RA, I really had no understanding of it, and AFTER being DXd, I realized you really have to HAVE RA to understand it. Seems to be much the same with Abuse.

The White Ribbon movement was started after the 1991 Polytechnique Massacre where 14 women were killed by an anti-feminist in Canada. In response, this movement started out slowly in Jack Taylor's sons room and has since spread around the world. It is now an international effort of men and boys working to end violence against women. Its basic principle is the importance of men and boys to speak out against all forms of violence against women. In Canada, the campaign is run from November 25 (the International Day for the Eradication of Violence Against Women) until December 6, Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Other countries support 16 Days of Action from November 25 until December 10 but campaigns can occur at any time of the year (as researched in Wikipedia).