New app fights relationship violence

The One Love Foundation was established in 2010 to honour the memory of Yeardley Reynolds Love, who was murdered by an ex-boyfriend earlier that year.

As part of their work to educate victims, friends and family, and professionals about how to recognize and report cases of relationship violence, they have developed a mobile app for iPhones and Android that uses an interactive quiz to help friends and family quickly assess a suspected case of relationship violence, and take appropriate action.

There’s also an online PSA (see it after the break) in which a mixed group of people watch a young couple in a conceptual fish tank as an argument escalates into male-on-female violence. It’s hard to watch, especially while the observers come up with various excuses for why not to report it.

It’s moving stuff. I only wish they had used different voice talent. The lightweight tone somehow detracts from the seriousness of the spot.

You can also take the danger assessment quiz online here. While I completely understand the statistics around the issue, I have to admit I was put off when I took the “Me” quiz in good faith and got this after two screens:

It’s disappointing, after all that work, that they couldn’t have done more to help men in abusive heterosexual relationships.

Or gay men:

Or gay women:

I can’t blame them for their focus on the most prevalent type of relationship abuse, but it would have been better for them to be upfront about it.