Jan Langbein – Do Battered Women Eat Spam? – TEDxSMUWomen 2016
Every 9 seconds in this country a woman is assaulted by someone who says he loves her, by someone who says its her fault, and by someone who tries to tell everyone else that it is none of their business. Domestic violence – the leading cause of injury to women in the United States – IS our business. Knowing that abuse will not stop until abusers stop abusing, it is about time that we stopped asking the easy questions – like “Why doesn’t she just leave?” and start asking, “Why does he do it?” Jan Edgar Langbein feels that each of us have the opportunity and the obligation to do what we can –with what we have –to help create a societal paradigm shift towards zero tolerance for abuse in the home. Drawing on over 25 years of experience working with women and children who are victims of violence, Jan Langbein asks, “What is in YOUR can of Spam?” For more than 25 years, Jan Edgar Langbein has been an activist in efforts to end violence against women and children. Serving as CEO of Genesis Women’s Shelter and Support in Dallas TX, she oversees the internal and external operations of a full service/critical response for victims of violence. In 2008, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as Senior Policy Advisor to the U. S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). She is a national spokesperson on the epidemic of violence that now affects 1 in 3 people. Jan is a recognized expert, and is a frequent speaker at national conferences, universities, civic groups, corporations and law enforcement trainings and gives expert testimony in court. Along with the Dallas Police Department she co-founded the International Conference on Crimes Against Women.