Break the Cycle Supports #IBelieveJackie

Culver City, CA, December 13, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Break the Cycle wishes to share its support of UVA student "Jackie" and her right to heal in the manner she prefers. Break the Cycle is disheartened by the victim blaming narrative that various media outlets have created and sustained in this case. It is vital to acknowledge the complexities of a survivor's experience and the role that trauma can play in remembering experiences of sexual assault. As the leading national organization focusing on teen dating abuse, Break the Cycle believes all people deserve healthy relationships and to live in a culture without abuse.

A call on the media to collaborate with existing expert organization when reporting on issues of sexual, domestic and dating violence is being asked. Break the Cycle expects the media to uphold their journalistic integrity by seeking out experts when documenting survivor's experiences. Interrogation of a survivor can lead to re-traumatization, fear of reporting from additional survivors, and gives weight to the factual inaccuray that falsified stories are common. Field experts can outline the cognitive changes that can occur as a result of trauama, including memory loss, confusion, and self-doubt.

Articles such as those featured recently in Rolling Stone and the Wall Street Journal only futher the challenges that prohibit organizations like Break the Cycle from creating lasting social change and creating a culture free from violence and free from fear. It is imperative that the media preserve the presumption of innocence without simultaneously delegitimizing a survivor's experience.

Break the Cycle is an organization working to create a culture free from domestic violence