Building Public Will
When we build public will it means that more people will join us in the movement to end the cycles of violence against girls and young women. What is public will? It’s speaking up when someone is using hateful language about women, helping someone get out of an abusive relationship, reporting sexual abuse instead of sweeping it under the rug, advocating for laws that protect young girls and women from sex trafficking, blogging or writing a check—everyone in this country can take action.
We need the support of men and women, girls and boys, people from cities and rural areas in every state. You don’t need any special skills to become part of the solution—you just need to agree that there’s no reason that in this country in 2011 that girls and young women should continue to suffer from violence.
The statistics are shocking.
- 1 in 4 girls are victims of sexual assault.
- Human trafficking will affect 23,349 girls this year.
- Girls are sexually abused three times more than boys.
- 66 percent of pregnant teens report that they have been abused.
- Three quarters of people living in poverty are women and children.
One of the easiest ways you can learn about how violence impacts girls and young women issue is to take 3 minutes and watch a video on the campaign website Girls @ The Margin.
Or read stories about the girls who are working through the trauma they have endured with the help of the Crittenton family of agencies. You will find them throughout this site, or you can find them all in one place. And if you have a story to share, we welcome you to submit it.
You can also read our blog and we look forward to your comments, submit ideas or draft a guest blog post for us to run.
The media has tremendous potential to help us tell the stories of girls and young women living at the margin of the American dream because they have been victimized. Visit our newsroom for media coverage and news releases related to national issues and local trends.