How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped)
-
0:01 - 0:03I want you to imagine
-
0:03 - 0:05what a breakthrough this was
-
0:05 - 0:07for women who were victims of violence
-
0:07 - 0:09in the 1980s.
-
0:09 - 0:13They would come into the emergency room
-
0:13 - 0:16with what the police would call "a lovers' quarrel,"
-
0:16 - 0:20and I would see a woman who was beaten,
-
0:20 - 0:25I would see a broken nose and a fractured wrist
-
0:25 - 0:26and swollen eyes.
-
0:26 - 0:30And as activists, we would take our Polaroid camera,
-
0:30 - 0:33we would take her picture,
-
0:33 - 0:35we would wait 90 seconds,
-
0:35 - 0:38and we would give her the photograph.
-
0:38 - 0:40And she would then have
-
0:40 - 0:43the evidence she needed to go to court.
-
0:43 - 0:48We were making what was invisible visible.
-
0:48 - 0:50I've been doing this for 30 years.
-
0:50 - 0:52I've been part of a social movement
-
0:52 - 0:54that has been working on ending
-
0:54 - 0:58violence against women and children.
-
0:58 - 1:01And for all those years,
-
1:01 - 1:06I've had an absolutely passionate
-
1:06 - 1:08and sometimes not popular belief
-
1:08 - 1:12that this violence is not inevitable,
-
1:12 - 1:15that it is learned, and if it's learned,
-
1:15 - 1:19it can be un-learned, and it can be prevented.
-
1:19 - 1:26(Applause)
-
1:26 - 1:28Why do I believe this?
-
1:28 - 1:30Because it's true.
-
1:30 - 1:32It is absolutely true.
-
1:32 - 1:38Between 1993 and 2010,
-
1:38 - 1:41domestic violence among adult women
-
1:41 - 1:43in the United States
-
1:43 - 1:46has gone down by 64 percent,
-
1:46 - 1:49and that is great news.
-
1:49 - 1:52(Applause)
-
1:52 - 1:55Sixty-four percent. Now, how did we get there?
-
1:55 - 1:56Our eyes were wide open.
-
1:56 - 1:59Thirty years ago, women were beaten,
-
1:59 - 2:01they were stalked, they were raped,
-
2:01 - 2:04and no one talked about it.
-
2:04 - 2:05There was no justice.
-
2:05 - 2:10And as an activist, that was not good enough.
-
2:10 - 2:12And so step one on this journey
-
2:12 - 2:14is we organized,
-
2:14 - 2:17and we created this extraordinary
-
2:17 - 2:20underground network of amazing women
-
2:20 - 2:22who opened shelters,
-
2:22 - 2:24and if they didn't open a shelter,
-
2:24 - 2:26they opened their home
-
2:26 - 2:29so that women and children could be safe.
-
2:29 - 2:30And you know what else we did?
-
2:30 - 2:34We had bake sales, we had car washes,
-
2:34 - 2:36and we did everything we could do to fundraise,
-
2:36 - 2:38and then at one point we said,
-
2:38 - 2:40you know, it's time that we went
-
2:40 - 2:42to the federal government
-
2:42 - 2:44and asked them to pay for these
-
2:44 - 2:48extraordinary services that are saving people's lives.
-
2:48 - 2:51Right? (Applause)
-
2:51 - 2:54And so, step number two,
-
2:54 - 2:56we knew we needed to change the laws.
-
2:56 - 2:58And so we went to Washington,
-
2:58 - 3:03and we lobbied for the first piece of legislation.
-
3:03 - 3:06And I remember walking through the halls
-
3:06 - 3:08of the U.S. Capitol,
-
3:08 - 3:13and I was in my 30s, and my life had purpose,
-
3:13 - 3:15and I couldn't imagine
-
3:15 - 3:17that anybody would ever challenge
-
3:17 - 3:19this important piece of legislation.
-
3:19 - 3:22I was probably 30 and naive.
-
3:22 - 3:24But I heard about a congressman
-
3:24 - 3:26who had a very, very different point of view.
-
3:26 - 3:28Do you know what he called
-
3:28 - 3:31this important piece of legislation?
-
3:31 - 3:34He called it the Take the Fun Out of Marriage Act.
-
3:34 - 3:37The Take the Fun Out of Marriage Act.
-
3:37 - 3:39Ladies and gentlemen, that was in 1984
-
3:39 - 3:42in the United States, and I wish I had Twitter.
-
3:42 - 3:45(Laughter)
-
3:45 - 3:49Ten years later, after lots of hard work,
-
3:49 - 3:52we finally passed the Violence Against Women Act,
-
3:52 - 3:54which is a life-changing act
-
3:54 - 3:57that has saved so many lives. (Applause)
-
3:57 - 3:58Thank you.
-
3:58 - 4:01I was proud to be part of that work,
-
4:01 - 4:04and it changed the laws
-
4:04 - 4:06and it put millions of dollars into local communities.
-
4:06 - 4:09And you know what else it did? It collected data.
-
4:09 - 4:11And I have to tell you, I'm passionate about data.
-
4:11 - 4:14In fact, I am a data nerd.
-
4:14 - 4:16I'm sure there are a lot of data nerds here.
-
4:16 - 4:17I am a data nerd,
-
4:17 - 4:20and the reason for that is I want to make sure
-
4:20 - 4:24that if we spend a dollar, that the program works,
-
4:24 - 4:28and if it doesn't work, we should change the plan.
-
4:28 - 4:32And I also want to say one other thing:
-
4:32 - 4:34We are not going to solve this problem
-
4:34 - 4:37by building more jails
-
4:37 - 4:39or by even building more shelters.
-
4:39 - 4:42It is about economic empowerment for women,
-
4:42 - 4:45it is about healing kids who are hurt,
-
4:45 - 4:48and it is about prevention with a capital P.
-
4:48 - 4:53And so, step number three on this journey:
-
4:53 - 4:56We know, if we're going to
keep making this progress, -
4:56 - 4:58we're going to have to turn up the volume,
-
4:58 - 5:00we're going to have to increase the visibility,
-
5:00 - 5:03and we're going to have to engage the public.
-
5:03 - 5:07And so knowing that, we went
to the Advertising Council, -
5:07 - 5:09and we asked them to help us
-
5:09 - 5:11build a public education campaign.
-
5:11 - 5:14And we looked around the world to Canada
-
5:14 - 5:17and Australia and Brazil and parts of Africa,
-
5:17 - 5:18and we took this knowledge
-
5:18 - 5:21and we built the first national
-
5:21 - 5:23public education campaign
-
5:23 - 5:25called There's No Excuse for Domestic Violence.
-
5:25 - 5:28Take a look at one of our spots.
-
5:28 - 5:30(Video) Man: Where's dinner?
-
5:30 - 5:33Woman: Well, I thought you'd be home a couple hours ago, and I put everything away, so—
-
5:33 - 5:36Man: What is this? Pizza.
Woman: If you had just called me,
I would have known— -
5:36 - 5:39Man: Dinner? Dinner ready is a pizza?
Woman: Honey, please don't be so loud. -
5:39 - 5:41Please don't—Let go of me!
-
5:41 - 5:44Man: Get in the kitchen!
Woman: No! Help! -
5:44 - 5:46Man: You want to see what hurts? (Slaps woman)
-
5:46 - 5:50That's what hurts! That's what hurts!
(Breaking glass) -
5:50 - 5:52Woman: Help me!
-
5:52 - 5:55["Children have to sit by and watch.
What's your excuse?"] -
5:55 - 5:57Esta Soler: As we were in the process
-
5:57 - 5:59of releasing this campaign,
-
5:59 - 6:01O.J. Simpson was arrested
-
6:01 - 6:05for the murder of his wife and her friend.
-
6:05 - 6:08We learned that he had a long history
-
6:08 - 6:09of domestic violence.
-
6:09 - 6:11The media became fixated.
-
6:11 - 6:13The story of domestic violence
-
6:13 - 6:15went from the back page,
-
6:15 - 6:18but actually from the no-page, to the front page.
-
6:18 - 6:21Our ads blanketed the airwaves,
-
6:21 - 6:23and women, for the first time,
-
6:23 - 6:25started to tell their stories.
-
6:25 - 6:28Movements are about moments,
-
6:28 - 6:31and we seized this moment.
-
6:31 - 6:33And let me just put this in context.
-
6:33 - 6:36Before 1980, do you have any idea
-
6:36 - 6:40how many articles were in The New York Times
-
6:40 - 6:43on domestic violence?
-
6:43 - 6:46I'll tell you: 158.
-
6:46 - 6:51And in the 2000s, over 7,000.
-
6:51 - 6:54We were obviously making a difference.
-
6:54 - 6:57But we were still missing a critical element.
-
6:57 - 7:02So, step four: We needed to engage men.
-
7:02 - 7:04We couldn't solve this problem
-
7:04 - 7:07with 50 percent of the population on the sidelines.
-
7:07 - 7:10And I already told you I'm a data nerd.
-
7:10 - 7:13National polling told us that men felt indicted
-
7:13 - 7:16and not invited into this conversation.
-
7:16 - 7:19So we wondered, how can we include men?
-
7:19 - 7:21How can we get men to talk about
-
7:21 - 7:24violence against women and girls?
-
7:24 - 7:27And a male friend of mine pulled me aside
-
7:27 - 7:30and he said, "You want men to talk about violence
-
7:30 - 7:33against women and girls. Men don't talk."
-
7:33 - 7:35(Laughter)
-
7:35 - 7:37I apologize to the men in the audience.
-
7:37 - 7:39I know you do.
-
7:39 - 7:41But he said, "Do you know what they do do?
-
7:41 - 7:42They do talk to their kids.
-
7:42 - 7:46They talk to their kids as parents, as coaches."
-
7:46 - 7:48And that's what we did.
-
7:48 - 7:49We met men where they were at
-
7:49 - 7:51and we built a program.
-
7:51 - 7:53And then we had this one event
-
7:53 - 7:55that stays in my heart forever
-
7:55 - 7:57where a basketball coach
-
7:57 - 8:01was talking to a room filled with male athletes
-
8:01 - 8:04and men from all walks of life.
-
8:04 - 8:06And he was talking about the importance
-
8:06 - 8:07of coaching boys into men
-
8:07 - 8:09and changing the culture of the locker room
-
8:09 - 8:12and giving men the tools to
have healthy relationships. -
8:12 - 8:15And all of a sudden, he looked
at the back of the room, -
8:15 - 8:17and he saw his daughter,
-
8:17 - 8:20and he called out his daughter's name, Michaela,
-
8:20 - 8:21and he said, "Michaela, come up here."
-
8:21 - 8:24And she's nine years old, and she was kind of shy,
-
8:24 - 8:25and she got up there,
-
8:25 - 8:28and he said, "Sit down next to me."
-
8:28 - 8:30She sat right down next to him.
-
8:30 - 8:33He gave her this big hug, and he said,
-
8:33 - 8:36"People ask me why I do this work.
-
8:36 - 8:39I do this work because I'm her dad,
-
8:39 - 8:42and I don't want anyone ever to hurt her."
-
8:42 - 8:46And as a parent, I get it.
-
8:46 - 8:48I get it,
-
8:48 - 8:51knowing that there are so many sexual assaults
-
8:51 - 8:52on college campuses
-
8:52 - 8:56that are so widespread and so under-reported.
-
8:56 - 8:58We've done a lot for adult women.
-
8:58 - 9:01We've got to do a better job for our kids.
-
9:01 - 9:04We just do. We have to. (Applause)
-
9:04 - 9:06We've come a long way
-
9:06 - 9:09since the days of the Polaroid.
-
9:09 - 9:13Technology has been our friend.
-
9:13 - 9:17The mobile phone is a global game changer
-
9:17 - 9:19for the empowerment of women,
-
9:19 - 9:23and Facebook and Twitter and Google and YouTube
-
9:23 - 9:27and all the social media helps us organize
-
9:27 - 9:30and tell our story in a powerful way.
-
9:30 - 9:33And so those of you in this audience
-
9:33 - 9:34who have helped build those applications
-
9:34 - 9:37and those platforms, as an organizer,
-
9:37 - 9:39I say, thank you very much.
-
9:39 - 9:41Really. I clap for you.
-
9:41 - 9:44(Applause)
-
9:44 - 9:47I'm the daughter of a man
-
9:47 - 9:49who joined one club in his life,
-
9:49 - 9:53the Optimist Club.
-
9:53 - 9:56You can't make that one up.
-
9:56 - 9:59And it is his spirit and his optimism
-
9:59 - 10:01that is in my DNA.
-
10:01 - 10:03I have been doing this work
-
10:03 - 10:05for over 30 years,
-
10:05 - 10:08and I am convinced, now more than ever,
-
10:08 - 10:12in the capacity of human beings to change.
-
10:12 - 10:15I believe we can bend the arc of human history
-
10:15 - 10:18toward compassion and equality,
-
10:18 - 10:21and I also fundamentally believe
-
10:21 - 10:23and passionately believe
-
10:23 - 10:26that this violence does not have to be part
-
10:26 - 10:28of the human condition.
-
10:28 - 10:31And I ask you, stand with us
-
10:31 - 10:35as we create futures without violence
-
10:35 - 10:40for women and girls and men and boys everywhere.
-
10:40 - 10:42Thank you very much.
-
10:42 - 10:48(Applause)
- Title:
- How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped)
- Speaker:
- Esta Soler
- Description:
-
When Esta Soler lobbied for a bill outlawing domestic violence in 1984, one politician called it the "Take the Fun Out of Marriage Act." "If only I had Twitter then," she mused. This sweeping, optimistic talk charts 30 years of tactics and technologies -- from the Polaroid camera to social media -- that led to a 64% drop in domestic violence in the U.S.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:10
TED edited English subtitles for How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped) | ||
TED edited English subtitles for How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped) | ||
TED edited English subtitles for How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped) | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped) | ||
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped) | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped) | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped) | ||
Madeleine Aronson edited English subtitles for How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped) |