INFORMATION ABOUT DATING VIOLENCE
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Dating violence refers to either emotional, physical, digital, or sexual abuse in young people’s relationships aged 13-29. Dating violence has been researched a lot in recent years. They have revealed that dating violence is a common yet poorly recognised phenomenon. Although nearly every young person experiences dating violence, they find it difficult to talk about it. The studies have revealed that young people rarely turn to adults or professionals for help and prefer to talk to their friends instead.
Young people suffer from dating violence regardless of their gender. However, boys and young men find it more difficult to recognise abuse and talk less about them than girls or young women. It is important for all young people to learn to prevent and recognise in their relationships and abuse bring up with professionals. If abuse experiences are not discussed and processed, they can cause mental health issues and difficulties coping with everyday life. If young people do not receive professional help for abuse, the risk of violence in future relationships increases.
Dating violence can be either emotional, physical, sexual or digital abuse.
- Emotional violence can mean mean comments about your looks, name-calling, nasty remarks of your friends or family, forcing you to do things against your will, controlling behavior, such as not letting you see your friends or making threatning with of self-harming, suicide or abuse if you refuse to do what you are told.
- Physical violence involves physical abuse, such as throwing things, pushing, hitting, kicking or choking.
- Sexual violence is can mean either pressuring or forcing the partner to kiss, fondle or have sex against their will.
- Digital violence is the most common form of dating abuse. It is active and deliberate digital abuse, such as constant texting, location tracking, attempts to control or restrict free moving, reading messages, controlling social interaction with other people, threatening, publishing mean posts on social media and sharing intimate images during or after the relationship.
Other forms of dating abuse include chemical violence and financial control. It is important that both young people and professionals learn to recognise dating violence. Abuse can be prevented by educating young people regardless of their gender to understand what a good relationship is like. It is also vital to learn what kind of behaviour isn’t acceptable or healthy as well as the different forms of dating violence. However, the most important thing is that young people learn how they can get professional help and what kind of services are available. By educating and informing youngsters, abuse can be either prevented or the cycle of violence can be stopped.
