Abusers don't advertise; why that Christmas card isn't funny.

[dreamsreflected]

If talk of domestic violence and violence against children upsets you (and it should) then this post will probably upset you. Consider this your content warning.

So my friend Darlena wrote an awesome piece for Time on that Christmas card that pissed off half the internet. But here's my issue with it (the card, not her piece which was nice), which

Comments

[thisgracething]

I've been thinking about this since you posted it. I had a nightmare about my abusive ex-husband last night and I was telling my now husband about it. I said, "He didn't act abusive until it was too "late". We were married, I was stuck, I didn't want to be divorced." And I thought about this again. Being silent. And that he looks like a middle class, average, nice guy. You would never know he mentally tormented me for over a decade. That Christmas card was not funny, and I know at least half a dozen people who would tell me to "lighten up" and say, "It's just a joke!" It's all fun and games until someone abuses their family, and even then, would they speak up? The statistics say that more people are being abused than people verbalize, so it IS happening to people's family, do they know about it? Do they not speak up out of shame? I don't know, but it needs to stop. I'm slowly finding my voice, I don't want to be silent anymore.