Social Worker Offers Advice to Break Bystander Culture
Linda Dunphy
A California high school student was raped last month while many just stood by and watched. Many people are afraid to get involved when they see domestic violence and sexual assault occurring, believing it is not their place to step in.
Linda Dunphy MSW wrote an excellent opinion piece in Sunday’s Washington Post with advice on how to break free of the “bystander culture.” Dunphy is executive director of Doorways for Women and Families in Arlington, Va.
Q: Dunphy said people do not realize they have tremendous power to help victims of domestic violence and sexual assaults. Do you agree there should be more public education on appropriate ways to respond when you notice a family member, friend or co-worker is in trouble? Leave comments below.
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I’m in total agreement that there should be more public education on appropriate ways to respond when one observes a co-worker, friend or family member to be in trouble. There is everything to gain and nothing to lose thru such public education.
In her opinion piece, Linda Dunphy, MSW relates specific ways where one can safely intervene on behalf of a woman who one observes or suspects to be the victim of domestic violence. Breaking free of the “bystander culture” we find ourselves in, is even more important in today’s world, where the behaviors of violence reported in the news seem to get ever more senseless, vicious and unmanagable. If we have a chance of changing this “don’t get involved mentality” when a fellow human being is in crisis, we must take some personal responsibility in attempting to intervene. Humanity really needs such acts of selflessness in the interest of the individual under threat, as well as a “booster shot” to our greater society, demoralized by all the acts of selfishness which routinely occur.
E. A. Wahrburg, MSW, LCSW (NC, NY)
Just the thought of how anyone could witness an act of atrocity such as rape or physical assault on another and not try to break it up or at the very least get help positively astounds me. It leaves me with the thought that if we are of no use in helping others just what purpose do we serve.