Dating violence is any intentional psychological, physical or sexual attack on one partner by the other in a dating relationship. Dating violence is ABUSE. Someone who does something to you or acts in a way that makes you feel afraid or bad about yourself does not love you. Abusive behaviour is wrong and you do not have to live feeling afraid or sad. ABUSE is not about something that you ha ve done or something you deserve. No one asks to be hurt and you are not responsible for someone else’s words or actions. Each person is responsible for their words, actions and control of their own body. No one has the right to force another person to do something that they don’t want to do or that makes them feel uncomfortable. You have the right to stand up for yourself and you have the right to say NO at any time.
Violence against young women becomes a pattern which can be set in adolescent/teen years. Young women who are abused by their boyfriends often become mature women who are abused by their husbands/partners.
This article on Teen may be helpful for you to read.
What Does Look Like?
Teens and young adults experience the same types of abuse in relationships as adults. This can include:
Physical abuse: any intentional use of physical force with the intent to cause fear or injury, like hitting, shoving, biting, strangling, kicking or using a weapon
Emotional abuse: non-physical behaviors such as threats, insults, constant monitoring, humiliation, intimidation, isolation or stalking
Sexual abuse: any action that impacts a person’s ability to control their sexual activity or the circumstances in which sexual activity occurs, including rape, coercion or restricting access to birth control
While teens experience the same types of abuse as adults, often the methods are unique to teen culture. For example, teens often report “digital abuse” — receiving threats by text messages or being stalked on facebook or MySpace.
If you or a loved one is in a violent relationship, please get help.
©Break the Cycle
