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Original poster

Should pictures like this (violence against women) be shown?

30 replies

BertieBotts · 05/03/2011 23:38

I was just on the Sun website, reason irrelevant, but on the front page there was a thumbnail picture of this article about Tirion Lewis, who was beaten up by her boyfriend. The picture shocked me, because although of course I know violence against women exists, I've never seen it so clearly in-your-face before, if that makes sense? It just brought it home to me and made me feel very angry and upset.

The picture is here, warning, it is extremely graphic and is distressing.

It just made me think - should pictures like this be in the public domain? Does it help to see the real effects of domestic violence, or is it just sensationalising it? I can't decide what I think about it. That poor girl :( and thousands like her. :( Angry

OP posts:
sakura · 06/03/2011 05:37

I think it normalises violence against women.
It's not as though you can go through the day without seeing violence against women. YOu only have to turn on the news for a few minutes, or read the paper, or watch the clip of any garden variety music artists.

Violence against women is sensationalized, eroticized, we are saturated by it, and through this method it becomes trivialised.

dittany · 06/03/2011 01:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
BertieBotts · 06/03/2011 00:03

Yes I agree. A lot of people don't take DV seriously or just see it as something that happens behind closed doors etc. I was wondering today what would have to happen before society stops ignoring things like this and says actually, no, we're not going to let people do this or get away with it.

OP posts:
rinabean · 05/03/2011 23:48

It's sensationalist, yes, but maybe it needs to be. We're not out of the age of "it's just a domestic" yet. There's no "just" about it and we need to get that across to every single person out there.

ShavingGodfreysPrivates · 05/03/2011 23:45

That is appalling.

I think it does help for people who are in denial about DV to see just how bad things can get for women in this situation.

It's a bit like when Leah Betts parents released the picture of her to try and educate people about the effects of ecstasy (although that was nowhere near as graphic).

If you don't show it then it remains, quite literally, a hidden problem imo.

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