When We In/visibilize Our Nobility...

by Sahar D. Sattarzadeh

About: In October 2011, an international faith-based women’s rights non-governmental organization (NGO) convened a press briefing for invited members of the United States Congress and their staff in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The briefing was an advocacy initiative to address the Violence Against Women Act since its reauthorization had expired that year, and therefore, was again up for reauthorization for the 2012 fiscal year. Along with three other women from diverse faith backgrounds, representing religious or interfaith domestic violence organizations and programs, I was invited by the NGO to participate on an Interfaith Domestic Violence Coalition panel for the press briefing. When I was introduced to speak, however, the last words of the introduction caught me off -guard: “. . . and she is a victim of domestic violence.”