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Why do we make “Public Spectacles”?

 

In 2005, the World Health Organization released shocking numbers: at some point in her life, 1 in 3 women will experience some form of abuse by her intimate partner. While FBI statistics show a decrease in violent crime in 2009, domestic violence shelters report 71-78% increases in women seeking help to escape violence in their homes. The most important thing we want to achieve is to increase dialogue about intimate partner violence. While much progress has been made to expose the alarming prevalence of intimate partner violence, perceptions about the victims and perpetrators of this violence remain unexamined. For largely cultural reasons, it is often perceived as a private or taboo issue. This set of circumstances leaves our culture vulnerable to perpetuating more violence. We want to help lift the stigma of discussing this problem. We want to dialogue openly on the issue of intimate partner violence because it represents a human rights violation and a public health emergency.

 

What do we mean by “collective responsibility”?

The primary 'focus' of Public Spectacle is to stop abuse—whether it takes the form of physical, verbal, psychological, or technological—from occurring within relationships. Our public “Spectacles” aim to provide people with the tools to engage in dialogue and establish definitions of what it means to be in abusive versus healthy relationships. Our intent is to help people stop or prevent abusive relationships in their own lives, or to do something when they see it happening to someone they know, or even in the event that it’s someone they don't know.