Dating Violence Prevention
Healthy Dating Relationships
All of us have relationships in our lives. Be it family, friends, or a dating partner. While we are all in some kind of relationship, we are not always taught about what it means to be in a healthy relationship. Many of us will be in some kind of dating or intimate partner relationship and if we don’t know what healthy relationships look like, we could find ourselves in an unhealthy or abusive relationship. It is important for us to know the dynamics of healthy, unhealthy, and abusive relationships so that we can all strive to have healthy relationships.
What is teen dating violence?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen dating violence is defined as the physical, sexual, or psychological/emotional violence within a dating relationship, as well as stalking. It can occur in person or electronically and may occur between a current or former dating partner.
Relationships fall on a spectrum from healthy to abusive to everything in between. Take a look at some of the relationship behaviors on the relationship spectrum from Love is Respect.
It is important to note that we all do unhealthy things in our relationships. And that doesn’t make us bad people, but it does mean that we all have the opportunity to work on and change our unhealthy behaviors because we can all love better and we all deserve healthy relationships.
If you notice that you or someone you know is in an unhealthy or abusive relationship, or if you think you are behaving in unhealthy or abusive ways or know someone who is, there is help. Below are some resources (these are also the resources on the side so maybe we don’t need to add them here?) to help you or someone you know to get the help they deserve.
Consent and Healthy Sexual Relationships
The Blue Bench defines sexual assault as “any unwanted sexual action, whether physical or emotional, that is perceived as a violation of one’s own wishes or desires.” The Blue Bench goes on to say that “Anytime a person is forced to engage in a sexual act, they have experienced sexual assault. This includes being coerced, threatened, or unfairly pressured. Sexual assault is more often depicted in the media as a violent attack by a stranger on a random female. More typically, a sexual assault is perpetrated by someone the victim knows and is not limited to females.” (thebluebench.org)
Sexual assault can be prevented. It starts with us knowing what consent is, and how to respect what someone is or is not consenting to. The building blocks of healthy relationships are communication, respect, and honesty (teachconsent.org/parents). These very things are what consent is all about and why teaching them is the foundation of us all having healthy relationships. When we are taught about consent, we learn how to express the things we want and what we don’t want (teachconsent.org/parents). When we are taught how to consent, we have tools to express our limits, we learn that we deserve to be treated in a respectful way, and we learn how to respect others’ limits and wishes (teachconsent.org/parents).
If you know someone who has been impacted by sexual assault and want to know how to help or need help for yourself you can contact the resources below.
The Blue Bench
303-322-7273 (24-Hour Hotline)
https://thebluebench.org/
RAINN
800-656-4673 (24-Hour Hotline)
https://www.rainn.org/