0:00:01.261,0:00:02.753
I want you to imagine

0:00:02.753,0:00:04.708
what a breakthrough this was

0:00:04.708,0:00:07.136
for women who were victims of violence

0:00:07.136,0:00:09.092
in the 1980s.

0:00:09.092,0:00:12.605
They would come into the emergency room

0:00:12.605,0:00:16.017
with what the police would call "a lovers' quarrel,"

0:00:16.017,0:00:19.792
and I would see a woman who was beaten,

0:00:19.792,0:00:24.534
I would see a broken nose and a fractured wrist

0:00:24.534,0:00:26.295
and swollen eyes.

0:00:26.295,0:00:30.333
And as activists, we would take our Polaroid camera,

0:00:30.333,0:00:32.890
we would take her picture,

0:00:32.890,0:00:35.042
we would wait 90 seconds,

0:00:35.042,0:00:38.169
and we would give her the photograph.

0:00:38.169,0:00:40.063
And she would then have

0:00:40.063,0:00:43.290
the evidence she needed to go to court.

0:00:43.290,0:00:47.724
We were making what was invisible visible.

0:00:47.724,0:00:49.695
I've been doing this for 30 years.

0:00:49.695,0:00:51.858
I've been part of a social movement

0:00:51.858,0:00:53.821
that has been working on ending

0:00:53.821,0:00:57.928
violence against women and children.

0:00:57.928,0:01:00.817
And for all those years,

0:01:00.817,0:01:05.549
I've had an absolutely passionate

0:01:05.549,0:01:08.496
and sometimes not popular belief

0:01:08.496,0:01:11.790
that this violence is not inevitable,

0:01:11.790,0:01:14.795
that it is learned, and if it's learned,

0:01:14.795,0:01:18.860
it can be un-learned, and it can be prevented.

0:01:18.860,0:01:26.045
(Applause)

0:01:26.045,0:01:28.008
Why do I believe this?

0:01:28.008,0:01:30.221
Because it's true.

0:01:30.221,0:01:32.458
It is absolutely true.

0:01:32.458,0:01:38.014
Between 1993 and 2010,

0:01:38.014,0:01:41.347
domestic violence among adult women

0:01:41.347,0:01:42.699
in the United States

0:01:42.699,0:01:46.086
has gone down by 64 percent,

0:01:46.086,0:01:48.763
and that is great news.

0:01:48.763,0:01:51.512
(Applause)

0:01:51.512,0:01:54.615
Sixty-four percent. Now, how did we get there?

0:01:54.615,0:01:56.410
Our eyes were wide open.

0:01:56.410,0:01:58.830
Thirty years ago, women were beaten,

0:01:58.830,0:02:00.965
they were stalked, they were raped,

0:02:00.965,0:02:03.506
and no one talked about it.

0:02:03.506,0:02:05.289
There was no justice.

0:02:05.289,0:02:09.913
And as an activist, that was not good enough.

0:02:09.913,0:02:12.384
And so step one on this journey

0:02:12.384,0:02:14.381
is we organized,

0:02:14.381,0:02:17.015
and we created this extraordinary

0:02:17.015,0:02:20.007
underground network of amazing women

0:02:20.007,0:02:21.874
who opened shelters,

0:02:21.874,0:02:23.993
and if they didn't open a shelter,

0:02:23.993,0:02:25.585
they opened their home

0:02:25.585,0:02:28.619
so that women and children could be safe.

0:02:28.619,0:02:30.299
And you know what else we did?

0:02:30.299,0:02:33.764
We had bake sales, we had car washes,

0:02:33.764,0:02:36.298
and we did everything we could do to fundraise,

0:02:36.298,0:02:38.275
and then at one point we said,

0:02:38.275,0:02:40.416
you know, it's time that we went

0:02:40.416,0:02:42.070
to the federal government

0:02:42.070,0:02:44.041
and asked them to pay for these

0:02:44.041,0:02:48.056
extraordinary services that are saving people's lives.

0:02:48.056,0:02:50.517
Right? (Applause)

0:02:50.517,0:02:53.591
And so, step number two,

0:02:53.591,0:02:55.936
we knew we needed to change the laws.

0:02:55.936,0:02:58.223
And so we went to Washington,

0:02:58.223,0:03:03.093
and we lobbied for the first piece of legislation.

0:03:03.093,0:03:05.854
And I remember walking through the halls

0:03:05.854,0:03:08.264
of the U.S. Capitol,

0:03:08.264,0:03:12.622
and I was in my 30s, and my life had purpose,

0:03:12.622,0:03:14.728
and I couldn't imagine

0:03:14.728,0:03:16.855
that anybody would ever challenge

0:03:16.855,0:03:18.966
this important piece of legislation.

0:03:18.966,0:03:21.902
I was probably 30 and naive.

0:03:21.902,0:03:23.984
But I heard about a congressman

0:03:23.984,0:03:26.301
who had a very, very different point of view.

0:03:26.301,0:03:28.100
Do you know what he called

0:03:28.100,0:03:30.851
this important piece of legislation?

0:03:30.851,0:03:34.338
He called it the Take the Fun Out of Marriage Act.

0:03:34.338,0:03:36.517
The Take the Fun Out of Marriage Act.

0:03:36.517,0:03:38.980
Ladies and gentlemen, that was in 1984

0:03:38.980,0:03:42.056
in the United States, and I wish I had Twitter.

0:03:42.056,0:03:45.243
(Laughter)

0:03:45.243,0:03:48.655
Ten years later, after lots of hard work,

0:03:48.655,0:03:51.732
we finally passed the Violence Against Women Act,

0:03:51.732,0:03:53.988
which is a life-changing act

0:03:53.988,0:03:56.842
that has saved so many lives. (Applause)

0:03:56.842,0:03:58.272
Thank you.

0:03:58.272,0:04:01.163
I was proud to be part of that work,

0:04:01.163,0:04:03.613
and it changed the laws

0:04:03.613,0:04:06.464
and it put millions of dollars into local communities.

0:04:06.464,0:04:08.791
And you know what else it did? It collected data.

0:04:08.791,0:04:11.474
And I have to tell you, I'm passionate about data.

0:04:11.474,0:04:14.056
In fact, I am a data nerd.

0:04:14.056,0:04:16.084
I'm sure there are a lot of data nerds here.

0:04:16.084,0:04:17.429
I am a data nerd,

0:04:17.429,0:04:20.064
and the reason for that is I want to make sure

0:04:20.064,0:04:23.510
that if we spend a dollar, that the program works,

0:04:23.510,0:04:27.974
and if it doesn't work, we should change the plan.

0:04:27.974,0:04:31.573
And I also want to say one other thing:

0:04:31.573,0:04:33.788
We are not going to solve this problem

0:04:33.788,0:04:36.641
by building more jails

0:04:36.641,0:04:38.938
or by even building more shelters.

0:04:38.938,0:04:42.131
It is about economic empowerment for women,

0:04:42.131,0:04:44.876
it is about healing kids who are hurt,

0:04:44.876,0:04:48.336
and it is about prevention with a capital P.

0:04:48.336,0:04:52.730
And so, step number three on this journey:

0:04:52.730,0:04:55.682
We know, if we're going to[br]keep making this progress,

0:04:55.682,0:04:57.983
we're going to have to turn up the volume,

0:04:57.983,0:05:00.195
we're going to have to increase the visibility,

0:05:00.195,0:05:03.107
and we're going to have to engage the public.

0:05:03.107,0:05:06.517
And so knowing that, we went[br]to the Advertising Council,

0:05:06.517,0:05:08.838
and we asked them to help us

0:05:08.838,0:05:11.428
build a public education campaign.

0:05:11.428,0:05:13.884
And we looked around the world to Canada

0:05:13.884,0:05:16.526
and Australia and Brazil and parts of Africa,

0:05:16.526,0:05:18.288
and we took this knowledge

0:05:18.288,0:05:20.781
and we built the first national

0:05:20.781,0:05:22.872
public education campaign

0:05:22.872,0:05:25.442
called There's No Excuse for Domestic Violence.

0:05:25.442,0:05:27.641
Take a look at one of our spots.

0:05:27.641,0:05:29.502
(Video) Man: Where's dinner?

0:05:29.502,0:05:33.014
Woman: Well, I thought you'd be home a couple hours ago, and I put everything away, so—

0:05:33.014,0:05:36.058
Man: What is this? Pizza.[br]Woman: If you had just called me,[br]I would have known—

0:05:36.058,0:05:39.231
Man: Dinner? Dinner ready is a pizza?[br]Woman: Honey, please don't be so loud.

0:05:39.231,0:05:41.136
Please don't—Let go of me!

0:05:41.136,0:05:44.030
Man: Get in the kitchen![br]Woman: No! Help!

0:05:44.030,0:05:46.385
Man: You want to see what hurts? (Slaps woman)

0:05:46.385,0:05:49.803
That's what hurts! That's what hurts![br](Breaking glass)

0:05:49.803,0:05:52.044
Woman: Help me!

0:05:52.044,0:05:55.463
["Children have to sit by and watch.[br]What's your excuse?"]

0:05:55.463,0:05:57.482
Esta Soler: As we were in the process

0:05:57.482,0:05:59.144
of releasing this campaign,

0:05:59.144,0:06:01.327
O.J. Simpson was arrested

0:06:01.327,0:06:05.461
for the murder of his wife and her friend.

0:06:05.461,0:06:07.564
We learned that he had a long history

0:06:07.564,0:06:08.937
of domestic violence.

0:06:08.937,0:06:11.463
The media became fixated.

0:06:11.463,0:06:13.482
The story of domestic violence

0:06:13.482,0:06:14.836
went from the back page,

0:06:14.836,0:06:17.642
but actually from the no-page, to the front page.

0:06:17.642,0:06:20.596
Our ads blanketed the airwaves,

0:06:20.596,0:06:22.946
and women, for the first time,

0:06:22.946,0:06:25.067
started to tell their stories.

0:06:25.067,0:06:28.420
Movements are about moments,

0:06:28.420,0:06:31.014
and we seized this moment.

0:06:31.014,0:06:33.353
And let me just put this in context.

0:06:33.353,0:06:36.489
Before 1980, do you have any idea

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

0:06:39.774,0:06:42.787
on domestic violence?

0:06:42.787,0:06:46.451
I'll tell you: 158.

0:06:46.451,0:06:50.962
And in the 2000s, over 7,000.

0:06:50.962,0:06:53.997
We were obviously making a difference.

0:06:53.997,0:06:56.743
But we were still missing a critical element.

0:06:56.743,0:07:02.258
So, step four: We needed to engage men.

0:07:02.258,0:07:04.201
We couldn't solve this problem

0:07:04.201,0:07:07.318
with 50 percent of the population on the sidelines.

0:07:07.318,0:07:09.538
And I already told you I'm a data nerd.

0:07:09.538,0:07:13.161
National polling told us that men felt indicted

0:07:13.161,0:07:15.660
and not invited into this conversation.

0:07:15.660,0:07:19.376
So we wondered, how can we include men?

0:07:19.376,0:07:21.495
How can we get men to talk about

0:07:21.495,0:07:24.239
violence against women and girls?

0:07:24.239,0:07:26.893
And a male friend of mine pulled me aside

0:07:26.893,0:07:30.269
and he said, "You want men to talk about violence

0:07:30.269,0:07:33.186
against women and girls. Men don't talk."

0:07:33.186,0:07:34.902
(Laughter)

0:07:34.902,0:07:37.178
I apologize to the men in the audience.

0:07:37.178,0:07:38.652
I know you do.

0:07:38.652,0:07:40.706
But he said, "Do you know what they do do?

0:07:40.706,0:07:42.385
They do talk to their kids.

0:07:42.385,0:07:45.902
They talk to their kids as parents, as coaches."

0:07:45.902,0:07:47.546
And that's what we did.

0:07:47.546,0:07:49.320
We met men where they were at

0:07:49.320,0:07:50.859
and we built a program.

0:07:50.859,0:07:52.638
And then we had this one event

0:07:52.638,0:07:54.713
that stays in my heart forever

0:07:54.713,0:07:57.298
where a basketball coach

0:07:57.298,0:08:01.220
was talking to a room filled with male athletes

0:08:01.220,0:08:03.801
and men from all walks of life.

0:08:03.801,0:08:05.704
And he was talking about the importance

0:08:05.704,0:08:07.063
of coaching boys into men

0:08:07.063,0:08:09.101
and changing the culture of the locker room

0:08:09.101,0:08:12.370
and giving men the tools to[br]have healthy relationships.

0:08:12.370,0:08:15.298
And all of a sudden, he looked[br]at the back of the room,

0:08:15.298,0:08:17.010
and he saw his daughter,

0:08:17.010,0:08:19.572
and he called out his daughter's name, Michaela,

0:08:19.572,0:08:21.431
and he said, "Michaela, come up here."

0:08:21.431,0:08:23.638
And she's nine years old, and she was kind of shy,

0:08:23.638,0:08:24.999
and she got up there,

0:08:24.999,0:08:27.605
and he said, "Sit down next to me."

0:08:27.605,0:08:29.728
She sat right down next to him.

0:08:29.728,0:08:32.536
He gave her this big hug, and he said,

0:08:32.536,0:08:35.788
"People ask me why I do this work.

0:08:35.788,0:08:38.535
I do this work because I'm her dad,

0:08:38.535,0:08:42.230
and I don't want anyone ever to hurt her."

0:08:42.230,0:08:45.582
And as a parent, I get it.

0:08:45.582,0:08:47.738
I get it,

0:08:47.738,0:08:50.621
knowing that there are so many sexual assaults

0:08:50.621,0:08:52.489
on college campuses

0:08:52.489,0:08:56.029
that are so widespread and so under-reported.

0:08:56.029,0:08:58.134
We've done a lot for adult women.

0:08:58.134,0:09:01.201
We've got to do a better job for our kids.

0:09:01.201,0:09:04.391
We just do. We have to. (Applause)

0:09:04.391,0:09:06.461
We've come a long way

0:09:06.461,0:09:09.472
since the days of the Polaroid.

0:09:09.472,0:09:12.625
Technology has been our friend.

0:09:12.625,0:09:16.684
The mobile phone is a global game changer

0:09:16.684,0:09:18.647
for the empowerment of women,

0:09:18.647,0:09:22.852
and Facebook and Twitter and Google and YouTube

0:09:22.852,0:09:26.657
and all the social media helps us organize

0:09:26.657,0:09:30.108
and tell our story in a powerful way.

0:09:30.108,0:09:32.606
And so those of you in this audience

0:09:32.606,0:09:34.447
who have helped build those applications

0:09:34.447,0:09:36.808
and those platforms, as an organizer,

0:09:36.808,0:09:39.218
I say, thank you very much.

0:09:39.218,0:09:41.293
Really. I clap for you.

0:09:41.293,0:09:44.274
(Applause)

0:09:44.274,0:09:47.021
I'm the daughter of a man

0:09:47.021,0:09:49.292
who joined one club in his life,

0:09:49.292,0:09:52.966
the Optimist Club.

0:09:52.966,0:09:55.728
You can't make that one up.

0:09:55.728,0:09:59.278
And it is his spirit and his optimism

0:09:59.278,0:10:01.188
that is in my DNA.

0:10:01.188,0:10:03.050
I have been doing this work

0:10:03.050,0:10:05.204
for over 30 years,

0:10:05.204,0:10:07.901
and I am convinced, now more than ever,

0:10:07.901,0:10:11.574
in the capacity of human beings to change.

0:10:11.574,0:10:15.113
I believe we can bend the arc of human history

0:10:15.113,0:10:18.131
toward compassion and equality,

0:10:18.131,0:10:20.949
and I also fundamentally believe

0:10:20.949,0:10:22.987
and passionately believe

0:10:22.987,0:10:26.117
that this violence does not have to be part

0:10:26.117,0:10:27.942
of the human condition.

0:10:27.942,0:10:31.295
And I ask you, stand with us

0:10:31.295,0:10:35.110
as we create futures without violence

0:10:35.110,0:10:39.530
for women and girls and men and boys everywhere.

0:10:39.530,0:10:41.692
Thank you very much.

0:10:41.692,0:10:47.803
(Applause)