By Tamara Westfall
Life After Hate Publications
2010
Nobody wants to say outright that victims of domestic violence are socially shameful and completely unacceptable, but the conviction is still there. Having your personal growth and perception of the world twisted like a rag at the hands of a sociopath is a popular taboo. It’s a stigma by which victims live with every single day of their lives. But this is the sort of thing we just don’t talk about at the dinner table.
The stigma of domestic violence carries a variation of hefty costs. It can take a toll on livelihoods by complicating careers. It can block out detrimental social networks. Even a decade after the actual acts of violence have passed on, the stigma of domestic violence can destroy a self-image and completely incapacitate any sort of will to survive. I should know, everyday I am a survivor.
