This Gave Me Chills

I'm not one to get all serious on my blog (barring a few political rants), but as a woman who was at one point a victim of domestic violence myself, I found this commercial to be extremely disturbing -- and important.

Keira Knightley (whom I generally HATE, but today...) plays the role of herself coming home from a day at work, only to find her angry boyfriend yelling at her about kissing someone in a movie script. He then throws a towel in her face, pushes her to the ground, and starts kicking her in the stomach repeatedly. The camera pulls back to show they are still on set... (showing women are degraded and objectified at home and at work... not sure if that was part of the point, but it's a nice by-product.)

While this is clearly in response to the recent Chris Brown/Rihanna attack, it's also a really great way of expressing that this type of violence can happen to anyone, regardless of age, race, or even beauty and success.

It's often very difficult for women to come forward and admit what's going on in their relationships. The embarrassment, the guilt (yes, we feel guilty for telling), and the love for the person hurting us is sometimes too much to bear, so we stay quiet and allow ourselves to be degraded, humiliated, and physically and emotionally harmed.

But hopefully with ads like this (it is graphic, but that's the point) women will see that they are not alone, and that they can do something about their situations. Hopefully this will anger victims enough to take a stand, seek the help they need, and get out of their violent relationships...

Okay, sorry. Next post will be funny, I promise!!