BEATING HEARTS: Stories of Domestic Violence about | exhibit | posters
Myth/Reality
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Myth/Reality

Photo Construction
30"w x 5"h x 6"d
©2004 Kate Sartor Hilburn

about Beating Hearts

That type of thing doesn't happen around here.

She must like it if she stays.

Some women like to stir up trouble.

Domestic violence is a subject engulfed with myths.
The reality is often quite different.

Myth: There are very few battered women in this country.
Reality: A woman is battered every 9 seconds in the U.S., and approximately 1,400 women are murdered by their spouses each year.

Myth: Domestic abuse only occurs in poor or minority families.
Reality: Domestic violence crosses all racial, imcome, and ethnic lines. The police in Norwalk, Connecticut, have the same number of wife abuse calls as the police in Harlem, New York, a city of comparable size.

Myth: Domestic abuse is just a slap, push, or punch - nothing serious.
Reality: 22% to 35% of women who visit emergency rooms are there for injuries related to abuse from a partner.

Myth: Men are battered just as much as women.
Reality: 95% of all assaults on spouses or ex-spouses are committed by men. Of 9,726 people calling for help in Louisiana in a year's time, 14 were men (.1%).

Myth: Leaving the relationship will end the violence.
Reality: A woman has a 75% greater chance of being murdered if she leaves.

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