Domestic Violence Crisis Now Impacts 1 in 2 Women, with Oprah and author Rachel Louise Snyder
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What alarming statistics about domestic violence are presented in this episode?
One in two women in the United States will experience sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetimes. Research shows that the most dangerous place for a woman is right inside her own home. I had a conversation with this woman, Susan, who was a mother of three who had endured 17 years of physical and emotional abuse by her husband. We all have asked this question over the years. Why do you stay?
What is the difference between domestic violence and intimate partner terrorism?
Why do you stay? And you say we should be asking the question, why is he violent? Hi, and welcome to the Oprah Podcast. You know, over the years, I've been talking about domestic violence for women. We did more than 120 Oprah shows on domestic violence. I first started talking about it in 1986.
Why do victims often stay in abusive relationships?
That's when the year the show was launched. And back then, the stats of 1986 were one out of four women
What signs of domestic violence should people look out for?
were impacted by some form of domestic violence. And now, 2026, after all of that talking and all of those years and all that we know and women's self-awakening and self-empowerment, things have not gotten better. They've actually gotten worse. The current stats are one in two, one in two women in the United States will experience sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. That means if you're listening and you're not one, you know somebody who is or will be. This is so hard to believe and so unacceptable for us as a civil society and tough to hear. Research shows that the most dangerous place for a woman is right inside her own home. And that the leading cause of death for women during pregnancy or postpartum is homicide.
Pretty shocking, right? So to understand the scope and impact of these terrible statistics, I am joined by the author of the award-winning and best-selling book, No Visible Bruises, What We Don't Know About Domestic Violence.
What is the significance of Susan's story shared in the episode?
can kill us. Journalist Rachel Louise Snyder. Welcome, Rachel. Thank you for being here with me. Thank you for having me. Well, what is the significance, Rachel, of the title No Visible Bruises? I love that title.
I think that we really, all of the systems that we have created, prioritize physical violence. We, in particular, prioritize marks that we can see. But a lot of domestic violence is psychological, emotional, coercion. You mentioned stalking in your opening. Things like financial control. All of these are forms of domestic violence. Financial control. Absolutely, financial control.
that's a new one because I think a lot of women do not think that their husband having control over the finances and belittling them for spending or, you know, it's one thing to say, you know, we have a family budget, but I hear that women, young women are being belittled for their spending or wanting to spend time with their friends. But that is also a form of abuse.
Absolutely it is.
How does Susan's experience illustrate the effects of domestic violence on children?
So all of these don't require physical, they don't require a punch or a kick or any kind of bruise at all.
What tragic events occurred in the case of Spencer and Monique Tepe?
That's why it's no visible bruises. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think it's so amazing as you're saying this, I know that there's somebody who's listening. who is just under the belief or feeling that it's not so bad.
I mean, you don't have physical freedom. There's a whole bunch of activity that happens around domestic violence that we don't really know how to...
What message do survivors want to convey to others facing domestic violence?
calculate. And those are things like, I don't want you to have friends over because your friends don't like me, or I don't want to go to your family's home because your family doesn't like me, which by the way, may be true, right? The family may not like him because he's abusing her.
Or they sense that something's off.
Yeah. Yeah. Or, you know, I see the way men on the street look at you when you wear those miniskirts. So I don't think you should wear those miniskirts. There's all these kind of small slights and small degradations that happen. Before anybody is ever kicked or punched.
During the many, many, many, many years and times that I was doing shows talking about this, I think in the beginning, a lot of women see it as flattery.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What alarming statistics about domestic violence are presented in this episode?
0:00–0:30
2
What is the difference between domestic violence and intimate partner terrorism?
0:30–0:54
3
Why do victims often stay in abusive relationships?
0:54–1:05
4
What signs of domestic violence should people look out for?
1:05–2:20
5
What is the significance of Susan's story shared in the episode?
2:20–3:30
6
How does Susan's experience illustrate the effects of domestic violence on children?
3:30–3:38
7
What tragic events occurred in the case of Spencer and Monique Tepe?
3:38–4:09
8
What message do survivors want to convey to others facing domestic violence?
4:09–58:26
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Oprah Podcast
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