Domestic Violence Affects Older People, Too

Intimate partner violence doesn't get nearly the amount of attention it deserves in our society, but when it does become part of the national conversations, the focus is usually on younger women. Now, though, a new PSA draws attention to older women affected by domestic violence. Having grandkids doesn't actually make you magically immune to violence from your partner, as much as we'd all like to think it does — and older victims are often left out of the conversation about intimate partner violence, when it's crucial that they be included.

Overall, women ages 18 to 34 are the most likely to be victim of domestic violence — but given the fact that over 1 million women are assaulted by an intimate partner every year in the United States, it's sadly safe to say that there are many, many women who fall outside this age range who are still abused by a partner. In fact, And older women suffer from the additional challenge of often being treated as invisible by society.

"I wanted to try and show how someone suffering abuse could appear totally normal and happy in front of those closest to them," Paul Andrew Williams, who directed the film "Do You See Her?" for the U.K. charity Women's Aid, told Adweek. "We all have the possibility of being very close to this problem without even knowing."

Indeed, domestic violence is something that can affect anyone, and it disproportionately affects women to such an extent that it makes up around 20 percent of all nonfatal crime against women in any given year. And while many women are able to get out violent relationships, it's not always easy or even safe to leave an abusive partner — meaning many women can experience domestic violence for years. In fact, according to Women's Aid, one in five domestic violence victims has been abused for over a decade.

Which all means we need to accept that domestic violence isn't just a problem for young women — it's something we need to be on the lookout for with older women in our lives, too.