Powerful new Mexican PSAs show cycle of abuse

By zerlina | Published: June 21, 2012

**Trigger warning**

Here at Feministing we speak very openly about abuse and violence against women. The cycle of abuse whether inflicted on children, women or men is something that isn’t talked about much outside this space but new “Save the Children” ads in Mexico do an great job of making the connection between being on the receiving end of abuse in your childhood and inflicting it on others as an adult.

It’s my hope that we can have ads like this in the United States and we can shift the narrative about abuse instead of remaining in the realm of victim blaming. This ad is powerful because it focuses on the abuser and their reasons for abusing which is all too often the point that is overlooked.

For example, if an adult man is a domestic abuser towards his female partner the question should always be, “Why is he hitting her?” and this ad does a great service in providing an answer to that. While this ad focuses on the cycle of child abuse, a similar ad could be developed showing the cycle of domestic abuse.

Check out the ad below. The words on the ad read: “70% of abused children turn into abusive adults. Donate at savethechildren.mx. Break the circle.”