HIGH SCHOOL

A Dozen Ways Any HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT Can Make Ending Domestic Violence His or Her Business.

1. Cultivate a respectful attitude toward girls in your school and female members in your family. Avoid behaviors that demean or control women.
2. When you are angry with your friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, sister, brother, or parent, respond with out hurting or humiliating them. Try to use a non-violent, respectful response to resolving conflicts in your family. Call a domestic violence or child abuse prevention program for their help if you continue to hurt friends or members of your family.
3. If you have a friend or know of a family member who is afraid of her partner or who is being hurt, refer her to the 24-hour, toll-free, National Domestic violence Hotline number at 1-800-799- SAFE (7233).
4. Ask and learn about domestic violence. Give a presentation in school. Develop a web banner -- use www.fvpf.org/publiced/banners.html for help.
5. Call the police if you see or hear violence in progress.
6. Talk to your friends, neighbors, and family members when they belittle women, make a joke about violence, or ignore a battered woman.
7. Contact your student government about conducting a safety audit of your school and instituting a violence-free program for your school.
8. Write to music producers, movie companies, Internet businesses, video game producers, and TV stations to speak out about violence against women. Use www.fvpf.org/celebrity/dvontv.html for help.
9. Build a general agreement among your classmates and friends that abusive behavior and language is not OK and will not be tolerated.
10. Bring together friends and classmates to work with domestic violence program staff, parents, teachers, and school administrators to start a discussion about developing a school-based curriculum on dating and family violence.
11. Learn about city codes, state and federal laws that deal with violence against girls and women.
12. EXAMINE YOUR OWN LIFE for violence and oppressive behaviors.

Information provided by the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and the National Domestic Violence Awareness Project. © June, 2000. MaryAdele Revoy, Project Coordinator. 1-800-537-2238.