“Is this love?” No, it’s not.
Title IX Office raises awareness for Dating Violence Awareness month with art
This illustrative piece demonstrates the physical violence women face in abusive relationships.
Photo IllustratIon – Michela Diddle
“Best friends can hide secrets,” Lori Mercer, an intern with the Liberty University Title IX Office, said.
“You never know. And you also don’t know whose life you may change if you just do something.”
February is Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention month.
The highest rate of domestic violence within an intimate romantic relationship tends to occur between the ages of 16 and 24, according to the D.C.
Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Though women comprise about 85 percent of victims, men can also be victimized by intimate partners.
To commemorate this month with supportive awareness toward victims of dating violence, the Title IX Office is opening up the sensitive conversation through a new medium: an art exhibit, by students and
for students.
The “Is This Love?” art contest and exhibit, which will be hosted at the Jerry Falwell Library from Feb. 21-23, is the result of a partnership between the Title IX Office and the school of communications and
creative arts.
Mercer was commissioned to coordinate the event shortly after she was hired as an intern in August.
The event had been in the making months before Mercer ever arrived
at Liberty.
The contest part of the exhibit prompts artists to depict on canvas what love is or what love is not.
The soon-to-be featured artists have explored in their works what a healthy relationship may look like, or conversely, what an unhealthy relationship may look like.
“There may be a lot of students who aren’t saying anything,” Mercer said.
“Maybe they feel like, ‘I can’t do anything better than this (relationship). I love this guy or girl, and this is what love must be: him or her hitting me.’ Maybe they came from an abusive home and that’s all they think love is, but students submitting artwork can speak up and say, ‘No, this is what love is or is not.’”
The heart of the event is student awareness through student engagement.
“We hope the awareness spreads like wildfire,” Mercer said.
“Somebody knows someone that has been in an abusive relationship. Whether they got shoved, or slapped, or verbally abused or maybe even stalked on the internet — that’s all dating violence. We want to raise awareness, and this is just one means.”
Stephany Steger, administrative assistant at the Title IX Office, said an added layer to an event like this was possible follow-up from students who the event and its messages may move to action.
“We want to stay current with whatever the vibe is within the student body, what they have interests in,” Steger said.
Steger said that it has been “a slow-turning ship” to gain ground in reaching students and putting to rest many misconceptions they tend to hold about Title IX.
“Ultimately, we’re trying to create a culture on this campus where Title IX is something that you can talk about,” Steger said.
“I think right now there’s a sense that students don’t want to come forward for fear of being punished or something comes back at them. We want it to be known that there is an amnesty policy. If you come in and report something, we’re not going to say, ‘Oh, you were there at that party too, so you are in trouble.’ It doesn’t work that way.”
Mercer vouched that Title IX’s purpose is not one of “doom and gloom,” but a resource of healing for anyone — student, faculty or staff — working through any aspect of dealing with an abusive relationship.
“It’s easy to choose not to look at something that’s so dark,” Mercer said.
“You just don’t want to think about it, that it may happen to you or your child or your cousin. Yet things do happen. But at the end of the day, we have Jesus Christ. And he mends us.”
Jarrett is a feature reporter.
