Working in schools, we spend quite a bit of time trying to prevent bullying. Bullying is a form of violence. Gossip and rumors is another form of violence.

To me, anything that hurts another, purposefully, is a form of violence.

In many regards, I like the different terms. There is almost a hierarchy of violent acts. If a person gets away with one form, they may move up the scale to a more horrible form.

I am not a fan of domestic violence, as a term, however. Domestic violence runs the same continuum as any other sort of violence. There is verbal, bullying, physical, emotional, and others. Sometimes there is only one form, other times many forms.

In response to the "date rape" term, I think it is important to acknowledge that many (most, perhaps???) rapes are perpetrated by someone a woman/girl may know. Rape done by relatives is called incest, by a stranger simply rape, by a married couple - I do not know the term, but surely there must be one.

Violence is violence, I agree, and horrid and punishable, no matter the form of violence. But, for me, the labels are important for the purposes of prevention. If we know what forms of violence are taking place, they are more easily preventable by knowledge, before hand, and prosecution, after the fact.

My rant is done.