DAYTON — The Artemis Center held its annual “Breaking the Cycle” breakfast fundraiser on Thursday.
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At the event, the crowd heard from Debra Morgan, a domestic violence survivor who said she married her abuser at a young age.
“I was 18 and conditioned to see my abuse as normal,” she said, adding that it was done “subtly, and slowly over time.”
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They had three children together.
“I had lived all of my married life basing my actions on his mood,” she added. “My safety and the safety of my children depended on it.”
Morgan said her abuser held money from her, threatened to strip her of her rights to her kids, and used religion as a means to control her.
The Artemis Center, a nonprofit domestic and sexual violence resource agency in Dayton, says physical abuse is often what brings victims into the system or makes headlines, but non-physical abuse like Morgan described goes under-reported.
The National Network to End Domestic Violence reports 94 to 99 percent of domestic violence relationships have some form of financial abuse.
Threats or using children as leverage, according to the Artemis Center, are classified as psychological and emotional abuse.
“He waited for an opportunity to blame more for his actions, and I waited in anxiety and fear,” Morgan said.
As a symbol of Morgan’s freedom from abuse, candy bars were seen on plates around the room. They symbolized all of the freedoms she did not have while in her abusive marriage - things as simple as eating a candy bar.
“As you leave today, I invite you to take a candy bar to remember the cost of freedom for survivors and the hope that one day they can eat a candy bar anywhere they want, in a place where they feel safe and supported,” Morgan told the crowd.
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