«There was a period in my life when I was in a relationship with a person who hit me. In the beginning
everything was beautiful: flowers, courtship, emotional declarations of love. Then he started reading my
diary, going through my things, looking through my messages. I felt that he saw me as an object that
fully belonged to him rather than a person who has a personal space, life and rights. At some point I
stood up to him and said that I’m tired of feeling this pressure. That’s when he slapped me for the first
time. A couple of days later he came to me on the verge of tears and for hours begged me to forgive
him. Then it happened again. The only difference is that this time he hit me so hard I fell to the floor. In
that moment I seriously thought that I’m in danger. After that incident I decided to never communicate
with him again.
When he hit me, I felt tremendous pain that left me breathless, and impotent rage, but didn’t end our
relationship. Why? Honestly, I didn’t know how I should react. No one ever spoke about violence in my
school or in my family. Violence was taboo in my circle.
I think that if we want to change this, it’s important to start discussing these issues in our everyday life.
To call out people who blame victims. We shouldn’t underestimate the importance of such things.
Women who find themselves in these situations are in desperate need of support. And the public
opinion can drastically change — in one direction or the other».
