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Powerful anti-domestic violence PSA tells women #dontcoveritup
*Trigger warning*
This new domestic violence PSA from Refuge is pretty chilling/brilliant. The ad, called “How to look your best the morning after,” is launching on YouTube as though it were just another makeup tutorial by the popular British makeup artist Lauren Luke.
This is a really smart way to reach the young women who need to hear this message–Luke’s other tutorials have garnered more than 140 million views–and hopefully the jarring and simple message will get them to click to Refuge website, share the video with their friends, and start opening up about an issue that’s heartbreakingly common and all-too-often shrouded in silence.
Luke, who used to be in an abusive relationship herself, said, “To open up and be honest about something like this makes us feel weak among our friends and family, but in actual fact there is nothing weak about it. Those who are abusive behind closed doors are the ones who are weak.”
Transcript after the jump.
Luke: Hi everyone. I’m sorry I haven’t been online much lately, but I’m back, I’m here. I’ve had a bit of a rough time but I’m going to be doing a video today on how to cover up. I’m first going to start with some foundation. If you a apply a color that is just gently off-tone with your own skin tone, you can cover any fresh bruising. So just apply lightly to start with and you can build it up as you go. If you’ve got a lot of bruising from being pushed hard against a coffee table, you can gently apply layer after layer and you will cover them slightly. It might hurt, just try your best. And that’s looking a little bit better so far. For my lips I’m using a little more foundation. You might want to be concealer on any splits that are caused from watches or rings. If you’ve got some bruising from a jealous type of partner, you can always just put your hair down to the side. If it’s not long enough, don’t worry, because a scarf is ideal for this. I’m going to be using a scarf. So you can kind of hide it and cover it up. So that’s perfect like that.
Text: 65 percent of women who suffer domestic violence keep it hidden. Don’t cover it up. Share this and help someone speak out.