[TRANSCRIPT]
Rosina:
Abuse doesn’t always have to be physical. Recently, Dominican-American writer, Zahira Kelly, sparked a hard hitting topic on Twitter stating that abuse doesn’t always have to be physical. Kelly coined the hashtag #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou, and explained that the hashtag was started to empower people close to her, and let out their feelings about “damaging situations.” Men and women from all over the world reacted to Kelly’s tweets, and shared their own personal stories and feelings. One tweet reads, “#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou, but he won’t let you go home or see your friends very often or at all.” According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, emotional and psychological abuse can often be just as extreme as physical violence.” This hashtag was so powerful, that a whopping 9,000 tweets were posted on Twitter after it was created. In the past, Kelly has used other hashtags to discuss other hard hitting topics as well. Emotional and psychological abuse is often ignored. Data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that nearly half of men and women have been victims of this type of abuse. Kelly hopes that this hashtag makes people more aware of the different types of abuse people face each and every day.