#WomensHERstory Month: Mariska Hargitay

                                        {Photo Courtesy of People Magazine} 

Dun Dun

It is March, and in honor of Women's History { herstory?} Month, I will honor women who have impacted me. I've been blessed with knowing, and looking up to many amazing, accomplished women in my over-40 years of life on Earth .

The first woman I want to mention this month is an actor. She is unusual in the fact that actors and other showbiz types are people to whom I do not look to emulate.  I like mass entertainment as much as the next person, and I drool at all the Beautiful People of Hollywood, but Mariska is unique in that I respect the work she has done outside of her on-camera role. 

Playing " Olivia Benson" on TV's police procedural _Law and Order: Special Victims' Unit_, Mariska gets a lot of mail from fans.  However, some letters affected the actress more profoundly. 

"When Mariska Hargitay started playing Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims’ Unit, the content of the scripts, as well as the work she did to prepare for the role, opened her eyes to the staggering statistics about sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse in the United States. She received hundreds, then thousands of letters and emails from survivors disclosing their stories of abuse, many for the first time. She wanted to answer—really answer—those letters, to address the suffering they described, and honor acts of courage they represented. 

Her response was to create the Joyful Heart Foundation. "  

{Source:   www.joyfulheartfoundation.org. }

 I admire Mariska for her ability to see the impact that her work on _SVU_ was impacting people enough to get people talking about issues surrounding rape, intimate partner violence, the problem of the back-log of rape kits, missing children, and other issues.  

By playing the role of " Olivia Benson" on television, Ms  Hargitay provided an venue for victims to share their stories. Furthermore, she believed them and used her fame and money to  start  a nonprofit organization that sheds light on the problems of violence against women and other vulnerable people. 

Regarding advocacy, Mariska Hargitay is an example of someone " putting her money where her mouth is" . She saw the need for a nationwide conversation about assault. 

Mariska Hargitay is not only beautiful, but smart and compassionate as well.  I wish more people in Hollywood would follow the example she sets both on-screen and in life. To be honest, there are not many famous women whom I really want to meet, but I'd be thrilled to meet Mariska Hargitay. 

With a joy-full heart,

~Sarah