Reunion Online

Even though 1 in 4 women and nearly one in 7 men are directly affected by domestic violence in the U.S., it remains a largely hidden epidemic. Because we all have a role to play in preventing violence—and because talking about it is one of the first steps to ending it—the Verizon Foundation and CBS Sportscaster James Brown are helping to get the conversation going during a special #YourVoiceCounts Twitter Chat before the Super Bowl on Thursday, January 31 from 4:00 – 5:00 pm ET.

Weeks have passed since we rang in the New Year, and already our holiday cheer has begun to fade. Perhaps, that is why we begin each year with the same routine of reflecting on how we are going to improve ourselves in the coming year and then resolving to do a whole list of things that, too often, result in no change at all. This year, Emiliano challenges us to break free from this routine and the typical resolutions of weight loss and financial gain in order to bring about true change not just in yourself but in your community, as well. He invites us to reflect on the issue of male childhood sexual abuse and resolve to be a part of a growing network of support.

Why? We ask it all the time: Why is the sky blue? Why didn’t she call me back? Why do I have such a hard time being disciplined? Why did that man kill all those innocent children? Why did I get abused? It is the ultimate question resulting in what we hope to be the ultimate answer to bring us some form of closure and comfort. Sometimes it does, but most of the time we are left many years later asking the same questions and still wondering why. Today, Aaron explores this question.

We begin this New Year with a much greater awareness within our communities than just a year ago about the frequency at which boys are subjected to unwanted or abusive sexual experiences. So let’s hope that when we look back on 2013, we’ll be able to see it as the tipping point year, when individual’s, families’ and communities’ support for men’s willingness to seek help to recover from unwanted or abusive childhood sexual experiences became the norm, rather than the exception.

From today's 1in6 Thursday from Cecil Murphey: "It seems like every person I know who was sexually assaulted—including me—struggles with control issues. Or perhaps “power issues” is the better term. We can tend to feel the need to be in charge (in control) of things or we surrender and give up any self-assertion. Some vacillate between the two extremes. I am a controller, although many people don’t recognize it. But I’m learning to give up unhealthy power."

In today's 1in6 Thursday, Cecil Murphey recounts an experience talking with another male survivor of childhood sexual abuse. A man decided to break the silence of his abuse by talking with other men. He’s finally able to believe that others have struggled with the same issues because of the molestation in his childhood. As Cecil says, all of us win by helping each other.

Back in September, Aaron shared the first part of his story of hope on the Joyful Heart Blog. In it, he said, "Hope is essential to life, especially for those who are forced (or choose) to deal with painful experiences from our past," Taking inspiration and encouragement from his faith, Aaron made it through. Today, he continues with the second part of his story.

Our friends at the Verizon Foundation recently launched a new campaign called Your Voice Counts. The campaign is helping to break the silence around the issue of domestic violence by equipping bystanders?especially men?with tools to begin speaking up to prevent and end domestic violence.

 As a visitor to State College Pennsylvania last week, I was deeply moved, by both the awareness of their tragedy and their determination to heal. The community showed a dogged commitment to squarely face and to nurture a path to recovery from the chaos that's surfaced since the arrest a year ago of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky on multiple charges of sexual abuse.

We are proud to announce our first awareness campaign, 1BlueString. This campaign is aimed at raising awareness for the 1 in 6 men who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Our 1BlueString campaign is simple. We are asking guitarists at all levels to replace their low E guitar string (one of six strings) with one of our free, blue guitar string to symbolize the 1 in 6 men who have had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood.