Domestic Violence. Simply hearing the term is enough to rattle me. It is the horror that stalks our society, the boogeyman hiding in our closets. We pay lip service to denouncing it, but more often than not those words ring hollow. The abusers are absolved of their violence; the victims are blamed for being too ‘weak’. It should be viewed as a major dysfunction. In my experience it is not. Indeed the normalcy of domestic violence within some families and communities plays a key role in empowering abusers. The silence that is expected from the victims, the shame that is placed on them and the excuses made for the abusers prevent us confronting the problem as we should. While I have written about domestic violence before on multiple occasions the events of the past week move me to do so again. Today will mark the launch of a series titled Love is Blind: Domestic Violence and Young Women. The name is taken from one of the deepest songs that Philly rapper Eve ever made, detailing her experience losing a close friend to domestic violence. The song describes exactly how I felt when my friends went through the same. In this series I will narrate that struggle. In sharing their story-as well as my own-I hope to increase both empathy and understanding of what abused women go through.