SAY IT AIN'T SO . . .

I should know better than to be surprised, but I am. I'm reading the October issue of Marie Claire, a magazine that I deem to be slightly more credible than most other women's magazines because of its front-and-center devotion to women's issues: health, family, money, work, women around the world, etc. In this latest issue, one of the lead articles focuses on domestic violence and violence against women, and the opening spread is enough to make my heart plummet:

S, 25, kidnapped and killed by her ex.
D, 38, throat slit and heart removed by her ex.
S, 18, strangled and stuffed in her ex's septic tank.
M, 26, shot and killed by her ex in front of her 5-year-old daughter.
K, 20, killed by her boyfriend of 5 years.
E, 22, shot in the back by her ex-fiance.
L, 25, shot in the head by her ex.
C, 17, frozen to death after her boyfriend crashed his car and fled the scene.
C, 20, strangled to death by her ex.
S, 28, stabbed and killed by her ex.
J, 22, and infant daughter, shot to death by her ex.
M, 19, beaten to death by her boyfriend.
S, 29, shot in her car by a man she'd dated casually.
C, 28, knifed to death by her ex.
S, 32, plunged from 4th-floor window while fighting with her boyfriend.
L, 15 -- FIFTEEN -- murdered by her ex while sleeping in her parents' house.

If you haven't had enough, here are more facts:
* One in three women will be physically abused in her lifetime.
* Every 9 seconds, a woman in the U.S. is beaten.
* In 2000, 10 times the number of women were killed by a man they knew, than were killed by strangers.
* Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to American women.
* One in five high school girls reports being abused by a partner.
* Almost 25% of domestic homicides are witnessed by the victims' children.

UGH. ENOUGH.