Image Source: Katy Perry Instagram
Early last month, a Massachusetts teen with a bright future died in a brutal attack. Kathryn Mauke, 17, who’d recently been awarded a full scholarship to a college in her hometown of Springfield, was allegedly stabbed by an ex-boyfriend.
What’s shocking about this story is not Kathryn’s young age, but how common it is that young women just like her find themselves to be the targets of what’s known as intimate partner violence — physical, sexual, or psychological harm by a current or former partner. According to a 2010 CDC report, more than one in five female victims of intimate partner violence experience it before age 18.
Websites like LoveIsRespect.org provide valuable information to teens about what constitutes a healthy, nonviolent relationship and raises awareness about intimate partner violence among young people. But in this day and age, we all know that the way to really get a message out about an issue is with the help of a celebrity.
Enter Katy Perry.
Just three days before Kathryn’s murder, Perry made headlines when she collaborated with anti-domestic violence advocate Brooke Axtell during the Grammy Awards. Axtell performed a spoken-word piece about domestic violence to introduce a Katy Perry ballad.
In what’s ultimately proven to be a sad coincidence, it turns out that Kathryn was a devoted Katy Perry fan. On a Facebook tribute page apparently created by Kathryn’s friends, one post explained that Kathryn, “balled her eyes out when she opened her present from her older sister Ashley on her 17th birthday. It was tickets to Katy’s Boston concert.”
She proceeded to put on a red boa and got all dressed up Katy Perry style. At the concert she was singing so loud and crying that people were moving their kids away but Kathryn didn’t care she just kept on singing.
The administrators of that same page, “Friends of Kathryn Rose Mauke,” are asking Perry to help bring some joy to the life of Kathryn’s grieving younger sister, Mariah, who is 16. They write: “Because of her great love and admiration for Katy we are hoping that Katy would do something special for Kate’s younger sister Mariah … We know that contact with Katy would mean so much to the family and to Kathryn. It would be a dream come true!”
I hope Katy Perry responds to their appeal for help, which they’re promoting with the Twitter and Instagram hashtag #RIPKatyCatKate. A gesture by Perry would be wonderful not just for Mariah, but for any teens touched or threatened by intimate partner violence. Just as she used her Grammy’s performance to raise awareness about domestic violence in general, Perry could shine a greater spotlight on the prevalence of abusive dating relationships among teenagers by publicly doing something — anything, really — to acknowledge Kathryn’s death. If Perry’s massive teen fan base catches wind of the fact that intimate partner violence happens in their youthful circles too, they’ll be in better shape to avoid or prevent it.
The folks behind the “Friends of Kathryn Rose Mauke” page agree. They wrote that deaths like Kathryn’s “could have been avoided with more education on how to identify the signs. More education is needed so that our youth can protect themselves. We need something good to come out of Kathryn’s death and it would be a fitting tribute.”
Katy, if you’re reading this, please consider offering your support. When it comes to combating teen intimate partner violence, your star power could make a powerful “roar” in the right direction.