Love the Way You Lie to Raise Domestic Violence Awareness

BOWLING GREEN, KY– Community members and students are invited to observe domestic violence awareness month on October 12, 2010 in Mass Media Auditorium on Western Kentucky University’s campus at 7pm. The event, Love the Way You Lie, will raise awareness of intimate partner violence and highlight ways in which students and community members can make a difference in their everyday lives.

The event will be presented by the WKU ALIVE Center in partnership with Hope Harbor, WKU Women’s Studies, and Barren River Safe Spaces (BRASS). There will be featured speakers that consist of a BRASS advocate and a speaker from the Green Dot program, which is a violence intervention and prevention center.

“Women ages 20-24 are at the highest risk of nonfatal intimate partner violence,” said Alyssa Stephens, coordinator of the event. “That’s our friends, sorority sisters, people in our classes, or even just across the hall.  This event is about knowing that it isn’t okay to be verbally, emotionally or physically abused, that you don’t have to stay, and that it isn’t your responsibility to save them or change them.  We want to make a statement and show people that we are all here to help them, and that there are ways that each of us can make a difference in everyday life. ”

The evening will also consist of interpretive dance, one survivor’s story, a dramatization, and an opportunity for every attendee to take a bystander pledge. During the bystander pledge, people will have the opportunity to pledge to stop domestic violence wherever they see it.

All members of the community and students are invited to this event. There will also be domestic violence information at booths outside the auditorium during the night of the event.

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If there are any questions about Love the Way You Lie please contact Alyssa Stephens at alyssa.stephens863@wku.edu or (270) 782-0082.