Violence Unsilenced: Moved Beyond Words.

Having grown up in the age of technology, I’ve easily been on thousands — if not tens of thousands — of websites.

Beautiful ones. Useful ones. Boring ones.

But never in my entire life have I ever come across a website that has moved me. Or the words have stilled me. Or, most importantly, humbled me.

Violence Unsilenced is a website devoted to the expression, anonymous or not, of female experiences with abuse. Sexual. Physical. Emotional. Mental. Domestic. Regardless, it’s a site where people come together to share their support with someone who talks about their abuse. I found VU, as it’s often referred to, a while back, and before I knew it I became a regular ‘troop’ for these women, marching on and giving my support whenever it was needed.

In fact, as a personal rule, whenever I see a tweet pop up in my twitter to ask for support for the latest poster, I do. Not simply for the fact that I’m getting a mega dose of good karma, but because I know that if I were in their position, I would want someone to give a shit.

Without doubt, one of the most powerful feelings created from Violence Unsilenced is the spirit of community and mutual support. Often within a few hours of posting, one person’s experiences can have anywhere from 10 to 50 comments giving support, love and kindness. It’s not just empowering for the writer, but it’s hugely powerful for the commenter. Well, it is for me, at least.

More beautifully is how obvious it is that violence unsilenced is needed. According to the about page itself, VU has a backlog of posts to be published of several months. Combined with the worrying ‘FAST ESCAPE’ buttons in the sidebar and helpline numbers sprinkled throughout the site, it only leads me to find Maggie, the creator, a compassionate and wonderful woman for birthing Violence Unsilenced into the world.

Something which I will never forget, however, is a little extra bit of effort Maggie herself made for me a few weeks ago.

I was checking my emails and, out of the blue, I noticed an email from her. Of all things, she was thanking me for being a regular commenter. She said that me being a guy can very much help posters on the site to not form negative associations with men in general (well, no, she didn’t say that exactly, but it was implicit about the man thing), and to just say that she appreciates my commenting.

And yet, for me, that to me is everything that Violence Unsilenced is about.

Going the extra mile. Doing something kind, even though you don’t have to. Appreciating someone and their sharing of words, just because you know it’s not always easy to write them.

That’s what VU is to me. And for that? I am deeply, deeply moved.