An Important Message For Our Users~ What you are about to read is real. Too many people suffer in silence, or in a living hell. California. A woman left bleeding in her house, beaten by her husband and believed to be dead, recovers over several months. Then flees out of state to bring up her 4 year old son alone. But not before attempting suicide thinking that he's better off being adopted than growing up in poverty with her. Washington. A woman physically terrorized almost daily by her husband, escapes to another country to bring up her children.She lives everyday knowing he will search her out to kill her. He's received returned mail from the local bank to her former address, and she now fears that he now knows which town to look for her in. Kentucky. A woman living with her boyfriend suffers abuse when he gets drunk, which becomes frequent as he stays unemployed. He threatens to kill her if she leaves. Regardless of where she'll escape to, he'll find her. Canada. A woman's roommate intimidates, physically beats, and strikes fear in her every evening. She's lost her job. Neither have income from employment. She's too scared to leave. New York. A woman abused by her husband is threatened that if she leaves he will kill her and the children. She stays out of fear for her family. Restraining orders are of little help. Fear of revenge by the husband or boyfriend keeps the terrorized woman at home Vancouver, BC.The owner of a small business regularly makes sexual advances to several of his female employees. If they don't have sex with him, job responsibilities are taken away from them and given to those who do - who then also receive gifts and income increases. After turning him down for a year an older single mother - continually emotionally abused by him - finally gives in to the pressure, fearing unemployment and loss of income. She nearly has an emotional breakdown thereafter, feeling victimized and raped, and stripped of the career she was building for many years. Illinois. A child grows up believing that his father hitting his mom is the norm - and acceptable in a relationship. Texas. A young girl grows up being routinely raped by her father, threatened that if she tells anyone, that he'll do it to her younger sister as well. She lives in silence, and horror. Multiply the above by 1,000,000 and feel the pain that so many people live with, every day. That's not an exaggeration. Over 5 million women and children have grown up in an environment of abuse or live with it. Add to it the number of sick people who abuse children and the elderly. Add to it a society where the locations of shelters for homeless are controlled by politicians pleasing the local residents. Where sleeping on the streets, not being able to get a job, and often not wanting to because you've hit bottom and adapted to it - is safer than trying, doing some work, and then being knocked down to where you've already become accustomed to. The fact that hunting may be legal does not mean that this is not a tragic abuse of animals. The problem isn't guns, it's people. Add to it the sickness of those who actually take pleasure in hurting and abusing animals. Recourse? Our laws in North America favor the men. For beating up a wife, a man in many states might get up to 6 months in jail. A woman under the same circumstances, years. Restraining orders are of little use if you're dead. Most women won't speak out due to fear and threats of violent revenge. The laws have to change. Sick people won't as quickly. This site is dedicated to everyone who is a victim of abuse, as well as for animals who are mistreated. The Internet is a medium of hope. Several years ago I was baffled by chatters on the net who would go to food banks, go without eating for 3 days, and get food stamps. They went to extremes to continue paying for access to the internet. The answer could not simply be that "social communication" in the needs scale of survival ranked higher in priority than "food". Finally I found the answer in Jewel's book of Poems, "A Night Without Armor" - pg. 27 entitled "Dionne & I" Thank you, Jewel. "We looked in the fridge only to see moldy Kraft singles and some eye cream. That eye cream was our pride and joy, so extravagant and luxurious, it made us feel rich. The cracked walls of the bathroom fading away into the small lights of her tiny vanity mirror. We may have had no food, but we knew the eye cream was all we needed - we were both young, with pretty faces and a lot of faith in the system. Some men would take us out. " The internet is a medium of communications. Information is merely a subset of communications. The facility to share experiences, discuss problems, and find others for support, financial help, encouragement, and sometimes a mate - not only gives hope to exit the torment or difficulties, but lightens the difficulties needed to be coped with. There are so many positive stories of hope, opportunities and friendships arising from people living the internet - far outweighing the negative ones published. Post the "2stopabuse" graphics on your website. And please link back to this site. As this site grows and evolves, we will affect change. Abuse can't go on. Rene Pardo 2StopAbuse.com A note of appreciation. I'd like to thank Ms. Julie Sarvari for her contribution in volunteering her time to help organize this site, and for her review of excellent sites with which to launch the different categories and subcategories." I'd like to thank Neeley for her role in programming this website. Also my thanks goes to Angela Smith for helping with programming and research, and to ^Borg^Queen^, Joanna Cravit and Darce S for helping tirelessly with the extensive research it took to launch this site.
