Breast Cancer Awareness Month — it is the annual campaign in October that covers our nation in pink and is put together by some of the country’s biggest breast cancer charities.

However, did you know it is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month? It is clear now that the month of October has come to an end, and that our country does not put enough of an effort in recognizing advocating against domestic violence.

Since 1987, organizations behind DVAM have been fighting — through various sponsored programs — against the violence of women and children. Its efforts throughout the years have improved the conditions for women greatly, but have by no means ended the problem of domestic violence.

Early this year, Obama signed an amended version of the Violence Against Women Act, which improved the law on a local and state level. Despite the government’s push to better protect and prevent women and children from becoming the victims of domestic violence, the public is still generally unaware of the efforts being made.

It could be argued that this is because domestic violence is considered a taboo topic of conversation. Because society sees domestic violence as an extremely personal issue, it makes many individuals feel uncomfortable to publically acknowledge its relevance in our culture.

And because of this taboo label, our culture’s social vernacular does not leave a large window for the discussion of domestic violence. This not only causes it to be largely ignored by many in society, but it also downplays its severity.

In 2009, our popular culture showed what happens when a star figure in the media becomes a victim of domestic violence. At the time, Rihanna was brutally beaten by then boyfriend Chris Brown.

The incident shook the media, and for a moment forced everyone in society to acknowledge how widespread domestic violence is in our country. However, the moment of realization and concern was immediately downplayed when Brown was put on probation rather than given an adequate sentence.

Because Rihanna’s experience with domestic violence was so public, Brown’s insufficient sentencing sent a poor cultural message. It communicated to society that domestic violence is an issue that is not upheld to high standards in court.

Another instance that shows our society does not perceive domestic violence appropriately is evident through the holiday we celebrated just recently —Halloween.

The last few years have accumulated numerous articles about offensive Halloween costumes, one of which is the trend of women dressing up as “battered women”. Though not representative of our entire society, this extremely offensive costume demonstrates that many people believe domestic violence is not a matter to be taken seriously.

So, what future steps can be taken in order to enforce the importance of fighting to protect and prevent women from domestic abuse?

Traditional means of spreading awareness is not necessarily a strong enough means to solidifying long-term success. An organization that can contest to this is Vera House. The Syracuse-based organization provides support and shelter for women and children suffering from abusive domestic relationships.

Vera House recently launched a campaign that pushed for advocacy against domestic violence by encouraging men to lead by example and speak up against the abuse. It is a compelling strategy and will likely give a stronger impact than some of the other efforts that have been made in the past.

The organization also hopes to create a better connection with local colleges such as Syracuse University to spread awareness and education about domestic violence.

The issue is that our nation is not educated enough on the strong presence of domestic violence in the country. There is too much silence and not enough action.

Organizations should look to nonprofits such as Vera House as a model in which to work off of. Perhaps then we can build a bigger fight, and make domestic violence a more permanent part of our cultural vernacular.

Paris Bethel is a junior advertising major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected].

Published on November 10, 2013 at 8:13 am