0:00:01.400,0:00:03.020
I want you to imagine

0:00:03.020,0:00:04.832
what a breakthrough this was

0:00:04.832,0:00:07.229
for women who were victims of violence

0:00:07.229,0:00:09.216
in the 1980s.

0:00:09.216,0:00:12.299
They would come into the emergency room

0:00:12.299,0:00:16.157
from what the police would call "a lover's quarrel,"

0:00:16.157,0:00:19.792
and I would see a woman who was beaten,

0:00:19.792,0:00:24.382
I would see a broken nose and a fractured wrist

0:00:24.382,0:00:26.542
and swollen eyes.

0:00:26.542,0:00:30.487
And as activists, we would take our Polaroid camera,

0:00:30.487,0:00:33.029
we would take her picture,

0:00:33.029,0:00:35.196
we would wait 90 seconds,

0:00:35.196,0:00:38.431
and we would give her the photograph.

0:00:38.431,0:00:40.310
And she would then have

0:00:40.310,0:00:43.460
the evidence she needed to go to court.

0:00:43.460,0:00:47.787
We were making what was invisible visible.

0:00:47.787,0:00:49.895
I've been doing this for 30 years.

0:00:49.895,0:00:52.012
I've been part of a social movement

0:00:52.012,0:00:53.991
that has been working on ending

0:00:53.991,0:00:57.928
violence against women and children.

0:00:57.928,0:01:01.011
And for all those years,

0:01:01.011,0:01:05.749
I've had an absolutely passionate

0:01:05.749,0:01:08.635
and sometimes not popular belief

0:01:08.635,0:01:11.975
that this violence is not inevitable,

0:01:11.975,0:01:14.995
that it is learned, and if it's learned,

0:01:14.995,0:01:19.023
it can be unlearned, and it can be prevented.

0:01:19.023,0:01:26.522
(Applause)

0:01:26.522,0:01:28.239
Why do I believe this?

0:01:28.239,0:01:30.421
Because it's true.

0:01:30.421,0:01:32.720
It is absolutely true.

0:01:32.720,0:01:37.985
Between 1993 and 2010,

0:01:37.985,0:01:41.394
domestic violence among adult women

0:01:41.394,0:01:43.003
in the United States

0:01:43.003,0:01:46.333
has gone down by 64 percent,

0:01:46.333,0:01:48.763
and that is great news.

0:01:48.763,0:01:51.745
(Applause)

0:01:51.745,0:01:55.108
Sixty-four percent. Now how did we get there?

0:01:55.108,0:01:56.795
Our eyes were wide open.

0:01:56.795,0:01:58.925
Thirty years ago, women were beaten,

0:01:58.925,0:02:00.997
they were stalked, they were raped,

0:02:00.997,0:02:03.677
and no one talked about it.

0:02:03.677,0:02:05.582
There was no justice.

0:02:05.582,0:02:10.113
And as an activist, that was not good enough.

0:02:10.113,0:02:12.584
And so step one on this journey

0:02:12.584,0:02:14.505
is we organized,

0:02:14.505,0:02:17.002
and we created this extraordinary

0:02:17.002,0:02:20.030
underground network of amazing women

0:02:20.030,0:02:21.998
who opened shelters,

0:02:21.998,0:02:24.024
and if they didn't open a shelter,

0:02:24.024,0:02:25.755
they opened their home

0:02:25.755,0:02:28.927
so that women and children could be safe.

0:02:28.927,0:02:30.592
And you know what else we did?

0:02:30.592,0:02:33.764
We had bake sales, we had car washes,

0:02:33.764,0:02:36.330
and we did everything we could do to fundraise,

0:02:36.330,0:02:38.445
and then at one point we said,

0:02:38.445,0:02:40.586
you know, it's time that we went

0:02:40.586,0:02:42.286
to the federal government

0:02:42.286,0:02:44.165
and asked them to pay for these

0:02:44.165,0:02:48.081
extraordinary services that are saving people's lives.

0:02:48.081,0:02:50.733
Right? (Applause)

0:02:50.733,0:02:53.838
And so, step number two,

0:02:53.838,0:02:56.167
we knew we needed to change the laws.

0:02:56.167,0:02:58.316
And so we went to Washington,

0:02:58.316,0:03:03.278
and we lobbied for the first piece of legislation.

0:03:03.278,0:03:05.854
And I remember walking through the halls

0:03:05.854,0:03:08.295
of the U.S. Capitol,

0:03:08.295,0:03:12.424
and I was in my 30s, and my life had purpose,

0:03:12.424,0:03:14.944
and I couldn't imagine

0:03:14.944,0:03:17.194
that anybody would ever challenge

0:03:17.194,0:03:19.244
this important piece of legislation.

0:03:19.244,0:03:22.426
I was probably 30 and naive.

0:03:22.426,0:03:24.215
But I heard about a congressman

0:03:24.215,0:03:26.825
who had a very, very different point of view.

0:03:26.825,0:03:28.178
Do you know what he called

0:03:28.178,0:03:30.560
this important piece of legislation?

0:03:30.560,0:03:34.723
He called it the take-the-fun-out-of-marriage act.

0:03:34.723,0:03:36.748
The take-the-fun-out-of-marriage act.

0:03:36.748,0:03:39.212
Ladies and gentlemen, that was in 1984

0:03:39.212,0:03:42.272
in the United States, and I wish I had Twitter.

0:03:42.272,0:03:45.613
(Laughter)

0:03:45.613,0:03:48.764
Ten years later, after lots of hard work,

0:03:48.764,0:03:51.979
we finally passed the Violence Against Women Act,

0:03:51.979,0:03:54.297
which is a life-changing act

0:03:54.297,0:03:57.104
that has saved so many lives. (Applause)

0:03:57.104,0:03:58.813
Thank you.

0:03:58.813,0:04:01.441
I was proud to be part of that work,

0:04:01.441,0:04:03.829
and it changed the laws

0:04:03.829,0:04:06.481
and it put millions of dollars into local communities.

0:04:06.481,0:04:09.070
And you know what else it did? It collected data.

0:04:09.070,0:04:10.250
And I have to tell you,

0:04:10.250,0:04:11.690
I'm passionate about data.

0:04:11.690,0:04:14.290
In fact, I am a data nerd.

0:04:14.290,0:04:16.193
I'm sure there are a lot of data nerds here.

0:04:16.193,0:04:17.614
I am a data nerd,

0:04:17.614,0:04:20.065
and the reason for that is I want to make sure

0:04:20.065,0:04:23.664
that if we spend a dollar, that the program works,

0:04:23.664,0:04:27.096
and if it doesn't work, we should change the plan.

0:04:27.096,0:04:31.773
And I also want to say one other thing:

0:04:31.773,0:04:33.835
we are not going to solve this problem

0:04:33.835,0:04:36.918
by building more jails

0:04:36.918,0:04:39.246
or by even building more shelters.

0:04:39.246,0:04:42.362
It is about economic empowerment for women,

0:04:42.362,0:04:45.107
it is about healing kids who are hurt,

0:04:45.107,0:04:48.460
and it is about prevention with a capital P.

0:04:48.460,0:04:52.900
And so, step number three on this journey:

0:04:52.900,0:04:55.852
we know, if we're going to[br]keep making this progress,

0:04:55.852,0:04:58.023
we're going to have to turn up the volume,

0:04:58.023,0:05:00.319
we're going to have to increase the visibility,

0:05:00.319,0:05:03.369
and we're going to have to engage the public.

0:05:03.369,0:05:06.517
And so knowing that, we went[br]to the Advertising Council,

0:05:06.517,0:05:08.824
and we asked them to help us

0:05:08.824,0:05:11.490
build a public education campaign.

0:05:11.490,0:05:14.010
And we looked around the world to Canada

0:05:14.010,0:05:16.726
and Australia and Brazil and parts of Africa,

0:05:16.726,0:05:18.488
and we took this knowledge

0:05:18.488,0:05:20.615
and we built the first national

0:05:20.615,0:05:22.965
public education campaign

0:05:22.965,0:05:25.519
called "There's No Excuse For Domestic Violence."

0:05:25.519,0:05:28.288
Take a look at one of our spots.

0:05:28.288,0:05:29.518
(Video) Man: Where's dinner?

0:05:29.518,0:05:33.155
Woman: Well, I thought you'd be home a couple hours ago, and I put everything away, so—

0:05:33.155,0:05:35.982
Man: What is this? Pizza.[br]Woman: If you had just called me,[br]I would have known—

0:05:35.982,0:05:38.417
Man: Dinner? Dinner ready is a pizza?[br]Woman: Honey, please don't be so loud.

0:05:38.417,0:05:41.213
Please don't—Let go of me!

0:05:41.213,0:05:44.384
Man: Get in the kitchen![br]Woman: No! Help!

0:05:44.384,0:05:46.863
Man: You want to see what hurts? (Slaps woman)

0:05:46.863,0:05:50.484
That's what hurts! That's what hurts![br](Breaking glass)

0:05:50.484,0:05:52.475
Woman: Help me!

0:05:52.475,0:05:55.941
[Children have to sit by and watch.[br]What's your excuse?]

0:05:55.941,0:05:57.607
Esta Soler: As we were in the process

0:05:57.607,0:05:59.453
of releasing this campaign,

0:05:59.453,0:06:01.328
O.J. Simpson was arrested

0:06:01.328,0:06:05.478
for the murder of his wife and her friend.

0:06:05.478,0:06:07.889
We learned that he had a long history

0:06:07.889,0:06:09.184
of domestic violence.

0:06:09.184,0:06:11.587
The media became fixated.

0:06:11.587,0:06:13.559
The story of domestic violence

0:06:13.559,0:06:14.776
went from the back page,

0:06:14.776,0:06:17.812
but actually from the no-page, to the front page.

0:06:17.812,0:06:20.966
Our ads blanketed the airways,

0:06:20.966,0:06:23.003
and women, for the first time,

0:06:23.003,0:06:25.206
started to tell their stories.

0:06:25.206,0:06:27.961
Movements are about moments,

0:06:27.961,0:06:30.846
and we seized this moment.

0:06:30.846,0:06:33.508
And let me just put this in context.

0:06:33.508,0:06:36.489
Before 1980, do you have any idea

0:06:36.489,0:06:39.774
how many articles were in "The New York Times"

0:06:39.774,0:06:42.604
on domestic violence?

0:06:42.604,0:06:46.698
I'll tell you: 158.

0:06:46.698,0:06:51.286
And in the 2000s, over 7,000.

0:06:51.286,0:06:54.244
We were obviously making a difference.

0:06:54.244,0:06:56.990
But we were still missing a critical element.

0:06:56.990,0:07:02.814
So step four: we needed to engage men.

0:07:02.814,0:07:04.402
We couldn't solve this problem

0:07:04.402,0:07:07.565
with 50 percent of the population on the sidelines.

0:07:07.565,0:07:09.769
And I already told you I'm a data nerd.

0:07:09.769,0:07:13.346
National polling told us that men felt indicted

0:07:13.346,0:07:15.922
and not invited into this conversation.

0:07:15.922,0:07:19.623
So we wondered, how can we include men?

0:07:19.623,0:07:21.649
How can we get men to talk about

0:07:21.649,0:07:24.439
violence against women and girls?

0:07:24.439,0:07:26.817
And a male friend of mine pulled me aside

0:07:26.817,0:07:30.255
and he said, "You want men to talk about violence

0:07:30.255,0:07:33.586
against women and girls. Men don't talk."

0:07:33.586,0:07:35.503
(Laughter)

0:07:35.503,0:07:37.287
I apologize to the men in the audience.

0:07:37.287,0:07:39.391
I know you do.

0:07:39.391,0:07:40.832
But he said, "Do you know what they do do?

0:07:40.832,0:07:42.587
They do talk to their kids.

0:07:42.587,0:07:46.287
They talk to their kids as parents, as coaches."

0:07:46.287,0:07:47.716
And that's what we did.

0:07:47.716,0:07:49.306
We met men where they were at

0:07:49.306,0:07:50.983
and we built a program.

0:07:50.983,0:07:52.808
And then we had this one event

0:07:52.808,0:07:54.729
that stays in my heart forever

0:07:54.729,0:07:57.238
where a basketball coach

0:07:57.238,0:08:01.513
was talking to a room filled with male athletes

0:08:01.513,0:08:04.248
and men from all walks of life.

0:08:04.248,0:08:05.721
And he was talking about the importance

0:08:05.721,0:08:07.310
of coaching boys into men

0:08:07.310,0:08:09.333
and changing the culture of the locker room

0:08:09.333,0:08:12.555
and giving men the tools to[br]have healthy relationships.

0:08:12.555,0:08:15.115
And all of a sudden, he looked[br]at the back of the room,

0:08:15.115,0:08:16.949
and he saw his daughter,

0:08:16.949,0:08:19.682
and he called out his daughter's name, Michaela,

0:08:19.682,0:08:21.540
and he said, "Michaela, come up here."

0:08:21.540,0:08:23.670
And she's nine years old, and she was kind of shy,

0:08:23.670,0:08:25.017
and she got up there,

0:08:25.017,0:08:27.714
and he said, "Sit down next to me."

0:08:27.714,0:08:30.050
She sat right down next to him.

0:08:30.050,0:08:32.537
He gave her this big hug, and he said,

0:08:32.537,0:08:35.113
"People ask me why I do this work.

0:08:35.113,0:08:38.597
I do this work because I'm her dad,

0:08:38.597,0:08:42.415
and I don't want anyone ever to hurt her."

0:08:42.415,0:08:45.261
And as a parent, I get it.

0:08:45.261,0:08:47.478
I get it,

0:08:47.478,0:08:50.684
knowing that there are so many sexual assaults

0:08:50.684,0:08:52.675
on college campuses

0:08:52.675,0:08:55.555
that are so widespread and so under-reported.

0:08:55.555,0:08:58.442
We've done a lot for adult women.

0:08:58.442,0:09:01.248
We've got to do a better job for our kids.

0:09:01.248,0:09:04.622
We just do. We have to. (Applause)

0:09:04.622,0:09:06.631
We've come a long way

0:09:06.631,0:09:09.457
since the days of the Polaroid.

0:09:09.457,0:09:12.611
Technology has been our friend.

0:09:12.611,0:09:16.854
The mobile phone is a global game-changer

0:09:16.854,0:09:18.863
for the empowerment of women,

0:09:18.863,0:09:22.730
and Facebook and Twitter and Google and YouTube

0:09:22.730,0:09:26.612
and all the social media helps us organize

0:09:26.612,0:09:30.201
and tell our story in a powerful way.

0:09:30.201,0:09:32.484
And so those of you in this audience

0:09:32.484,0:09:34.463
who have helped build those applications

0:09:34.463,0:09:36.624
and those platforms, as an organizer,

0:09:36.624,0:09:39.511
I say, thank you very much.

0:09:39.511,0:09:41.293
Really. I clap for you.

0:09:41.293,0:09:44.414
(Applause)

0:09:44.414,0:09:47.009
I'm the daughter of a man

0:09:47.009,0:09:49.477
who joined one club in his life,

0:09:49.477,0:09:52.645
the Optimist Club.

0:09:52.645,0:09:55.683
You can't make that one up.

0:09:55.683,0:09:59.463
And it is his spirit and his optimism

0:09:59.463,0:10:01.420
that is in my DNA.

0:10:01.420,0:10:03.174
I have been doing this work

0:10:03.174,0:10:05.099
for over 30 years,

0:10:05.099,0:10:08.148
and I am convinced, now more than ever,

0:10:08.148,0:10:11.821
in the capacity of human beings to change.

0:10:11.821,0:10:15.360
I believe we can bend the arc of human history

0:10:15.360,0:10:18.162
toward compassion and equality,

0:10:18.162,0:10:21.134
and I also fundamentally believe

0:10:21.134,0:10:23.111
and passionately believe

0:10:23.111,0:10:26.194
that this violence does not have to be part

0:10:26.194,0:10:28.062
of the human condition.

0:10:28.062,0:10:31.572
And I ask you, stand with us

0:10:31.572,0:10:35.219
as we create futures without violence

0:10:35.219,0:10:39.823
for women and girls and men and boys everywhere.

0:10:39.823,0:10:41.877
Thank you very much.

0:10:41.877,0:10:47.803
(Applause)