Purple Thursday shows support for survivors

October is Domestic Violence Prevention and Awareness Month (DVAM), a period that serves to educate and raise awareness on the topic of domestic violence and, most importantly, support survivors. 

In connection with DVAM, Purple Thursday is a national day of action during the third Thursday of October where everyone shows support for education, resources and survivors by wearing purple, which represents unity, peace, courage, survival, honor and dedication to ending violence and letting survivors know they’re not alone. 

The Violence Awareness and Response Program encouraged MSU students to wear purple Thursday as a way to bring awareness to prevention efforts and to show survivors that MSU’s students support them. 

VARP Director Denise Crisafi explained how DVAM was first observed in 1981 as a national “Day of Unity,” but was actually composed of several different movements, from the women’s suffrage movement in the 1900s to the civil rights movements in the 1960s-1970s. 

“We had multiple civil rights movements happening that were very anti-slavery, very pro-women, and a lot of that had to do with individuals of different identities and intersectionalities trying to advocate for their rights in this country and during the 60s and 70s, what part of that discussion was violence against women, and particularly in the house, and how that was affecting women in domestic situations and also their children,” Crisafi said. 

Despite domestic violence in households being discussed first, Crisafi says domestic violence can also happen within intimate relationships, friends, roommates and colleagues. 

“We’re talking about some type of contractual relationship. You’re living together, you’re married, maybe you’re separated or divorced, but have children in common. Family Violence. But it’s also to talk about different types of relationship abuse and inequity,” Crisafi said. 

“That could be with your friends, it could be with your roommates, it could be with your family, people with whom you work. We like to extend that out to talk about what that looks like in different dynamics.”

Crisafi said most students tune out the term domestic violence as they don’t see it applicable to them due to its common association with family violence which leads to bringing more attention in talking about relationship abuse, regardless of how the relationship is defined.

“We use it as a time to normalize healthy relationship behaviors and not the unhealthy ones. We’re trying to make the distinction between that, in terms of what relationship health is supposed to look like, and reminding people that they deserve it, whether or not they’ve even been in an unhealthy relationship, doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve to have a healthy one as their next connection.” Crisafi said. 

VARP provides confidential advocacy to students and colleagues on campus who have been impacted by sexual and domestic violence. Crisafi herself is a confidential advocate and is not required to report anything an individual says to the university Title IX or law enforcement.

“Part of the advocacy is informing somebody, and it might be in one meeting because we don’t want to overwhelm them. But based on what they’re saying, their needs are letting them know what options exist and feeling out their comfort level with reaching out,” Crisafi said. “Sometimes I will go with them somewhere if they want to reach out immediately, and sometimes they want to do that on their own, and I leave it with them to do that, unless they want my support. Everything is driven by them. I don’t make decisions for them at that moment.”

“The only times I have to do that is where, by law, if they disclose self harm or imminent harm to another person, or elder abuse or child abuse, I’d have to counseling report that. But otherwise, everything is in their control completely, and that’s what we do.”

VARP also hosts prevention education and active involvement, where Crisafi claims that both keypoints play a significant part in coming up with strategies for prevention. 

“Part of my responsibility to the campus is proactive prevention, and that means talking about healthy relationships and consent, when we talk about bystander intervention, spotting the warning signs of an unhealthy or abusive relationship, strategies to intervene in those moments, or strategies to support a friend,” Crisafi said. 

Crisafi invites students who wish to become actively involved in this movement to partake in raising awareness during DVAM, especially on days such as Purple Thursday. 

“A lot of times what we ask folks to do in their groups or individually is snap a picture, put it on social media, tag us in it, so that what we’re doing it’s not reactive. It’s actually a proactive way to bring awareness to the issue. Bring awareness also to what Violence Awareness and Response Program is doing,” Crisafi said. 

Crisafi notes that, with the participation of several campus departments and student groups during Purple Thursday, it highlights the many resources MSU offers and how the campus community greatly cares about the issue of domestic violence. 

“You see other student organizations, student groups, campus departments, are also posting, and we’re not being performative about it. Because then you see the other resources that are there,” Crisafi said. “I’ve invited not just our division, but other folks on campus who are doing this to cross post with us, so that individuals can see the amount of people on this campus who actually care about it.”

VARP provides services to people at MSU and assures them they’re supported. They as well provide resources for those who wish to learn more about this issue. For more information, visit mnsu.edu/VARP. 

Photo Caption: October 17th was Purple Thursday, which is a national day of action during Domestic Violence Prevention and Awareness Month where everyone shows support for education, resources and survivors by wearing purple. (Courtesy of Denise Crisafi)

Write to Anahi Zuniga at anahi.zuniga@mnsu.edu