Domestic Abuse

As a grad of South High (c/o 91), I am very proud to see the effort and work that is being done to better educate the public, more specifically the students of South High, in the areas of domestic abuse and domestic violence.

Education and healthy discussion is the key in building trusting and positive foundations within our society, and this age is such a vital time for this intervention. I now work with adult offenders of domestic violence and find it alarming that many of their initial domestic abuse related attitudes, beliefes and behaviors, started or began while they were at the high school age. And most were victim’s or witnesses to abuse themselves growing up.

Too often, our [males] behaviors and attitudes, at this age, tend to be written off as just immaturity or a “boys will be boys” excuse, and even I had believed this within myself growing up. It is much deeper than that and communication and education is the only way to bring it out and in the open.

It would have been nice to see a few young men comment and be involved and/or share their prespective of domestic violence and what they had learned, etc. I thought the young women did a great job presenting and taking on such a troubling and widespread, but often untalked about, issue within our society.

Regards,

JM

I am extremely pleased to see this video was made by our youth! I work as a probation officer in the Hennepin County Domestic Abuse Unit and the facts are right on! We deal with men abusing women, women abusing men, and members of the GLBT community abusing each other. Kudos to the South High School Voices program! Hopefully this video will inform and influence potential abusers and potential victims to avoid abusive behavior.

Thank you!