COMMENT

‘He gave her flowers, chocolates and multiple bruising’.

It was one of the most effective awareness campaigns ever. Even though it was back in 1995, I can still vividly recall the image of a smartly dressed man smiling at a woman. He was a world away from Charlo, the working class wife-beater depicted in Roddy Doyle’s hard hitting BBC drama,

‘Family’, and later in the brilliant book,

‘The Woman Who Walked Into Doors’ (which should be on the Leaving Cert syllabus).

But that was the whole point. Women’s Aid, the charity behind this

‘Zero Tolerance’ campaign, wanted to illustrate that domestic violence was the most democratic of crimes: it crossed all religious, race and class barriers.

Another awareness campaign in 2004 was equally harrowing. It showed an x-ray image of a woman’s cracked skull with the slogan:

‘Some men break more than their girlfriends’ hearts’.

I was reminded of these campaigns last week when the photographs emerged of Nigella Lawson being grabbed by the throat by her husband, Charles Saatchi. The most disturbing thing about the pictures was not this act of aggression on the woman he is supposed to love and protect, but the complete look of terror on her face and her conciliatory efforts to calm him down.

Saatchi made it worse for himself when he tried to downplay the seriousness of the incident by referring to it as

“a playful tiff

?. He was reported to have accepted a police caution in relation to the matter.

It further highlighted the fact that violence against women can happen across all sectors of society. A wealthy senior citizen like Saatchi is as likely to engage in this thuggish behavior as a young unemployed person is.

As these pictures clearly illustrated, violence against women is often about power and dominance. We all feel huge sympathy for Nigella Lawson and can only hope that her situation improves.

This high profile incident will no doubt encourage more women at risk to seek the help and support available.

The Women’s Aid National Helpline is FreePhone 1800-341900 (10am-10pm).