Tennis superstar Serena Williams is vocalizing a push to include men—particularly young boys—into the conversation about domestic violence, a conversation that she says shouldn’t just center on women.
“I think expanding the conversation to men and expanding the conversation to young boys, it’s so important,” she said during an interview Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
“This is a human rights issue. We should all be treated the same. We should be treated equal. With domestic abuse, it doesn’t care what color you are, what background you’re from,” she added.
Williams stressed the importance of getting that message out there, particularly to the new generation, stressing that education about domestic abuse should start when men are just boys.
“It’s important to get the message out there—to our young men, to our boys, to our daughters—to let that new generation, and let the generation now, know that, ‘Let’s stop this. Let’s change this. Let’s create a better us,’” she said.
The ever-talented, ever-busy champ is the ambassador for Allstate’s Purple Purse foundation, which pushes to end domestic abuse and the financial abuse that can sometimes go along with it.
Williams said that she is even more attuned to the topic since giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., a year ago.
“This could be something that my daughter could face and that’s not cool. ... I want her to know that she can always talk to me and talk to other people. That maybe she doesn’t have a voice, maybe she can’t use her voice, but we can be her voice, we can support her in so many different ways,” Williams said at a Purple Purse event, according to the newswire.