WhyIStayed/WhyILeft

WhyIStayed/WhyILeft was a 2014 Twitter hashtag on which users discussed their experience of domestic violence in the wake of the Ray Rice abuse incident.

Overview

In November 2014, a media release of security camera footage that appeared to show NFL player, Ray Rice, punching his then-fiancee, Janay Rice, sparked public conversation on why victims of abuse stay in abusive relationships. In response to this question, writer and domestic abuse survivor Beverly Gooden started the #WhyIStayed campaign via Twitter in an effort to "change the tone of the conversation".[1] The hashtag began to trend nationally five hours after its creation[2] and was used more than 46,000 times that day, according to the Web analytics tool, Topsy.[3] The #WhyILeft was a later addition to the Twitter conversation.

On Monday November 8, creator Beverly Gooden posted the following message to her website to elaborate on her inspiration for #WhyIStayed :

The internet exploded with questions about [Janay Rice]," she wrote. "Why didn't she leave? Why did she marry him? Why did she stay? I can't speak for Janay Rice, but I can speak for Beverly Gooden. Why did I stay? … Leaving was a process, not an event. And sometimes it takes a while to navigate through the process. I believe in storytelling. I believe in the power of shared experience. I believe that we find strength in community. That is why I created this hashtag. I hope those tweeting using #WhyIStayed find a voice, find love, find compassion, and find hope.[2]

The hashtag gained significant attention from the national media, as well as from the National Domestic Violence Hotline via Twitter. The organization thanked all who were sharing their stories with #WhyIStayed and informed users about their services.[2]

After #WhyIStayed became a trending topic on Twitter, it was mistakenly used by the DiGiorno's Pizza Twitter handle as a marketing effort. The administrator for the account later removed the tweet and apologized for the mistake. Though the tweet was removed screenshots were taken to verify the event.[4][5]

References

  1. ↑ Grinberg, Emanuella. "Meredith Vieira Explains #WhyIStayed". cnn.com. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Serico, Chris. "Beyond Ray Rice: #WhyIStayed personalizes domestic violence". today.com. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Lee, Jolie. "#WhyIStayed: Powerful Stories of Domestic Violence". usatoday.com. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Stampler, Laura. "DiGiorno Used a Hashtag About Domestic Violence to Sell Pizza". time.com. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Petri, Alexandra. "#WhyIStayed, DiGiorno, and Other Corporate Disasters". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.