As we have mentioned before, 1 in 3 women in the United States have been a victim of verbal, physical or emotional abuse from a dating partner and nearly half of dating college women report experiencing violent and abusive dating behaviors. While those numbers are alarming, there are ways we can come together and prevent abuse.
The first and most important prevention method is recognizing warning signs. This enables the woman to end the relationship before any harmful behaviors can occur. Some women mistake the following signs as being newly in love versus the actual controlling behavior.
The most common warning signs are:
Jealousy
Texting and calling excessively
Insisting on spending every free moment together
In reality, these behaviors are controlling and will also lead to more attempts to control. If any of these warning signs are prevalent in the relationship or if any abuse has occurred, it is wise to end the relationship, even if there are apologies and promises that it will never happen again.
Another way to prevent dating abuse is to be informed about what a healthy relationship looks like. Learning about mutual respect, compromise, healthy boundaries and open and truthful communication allows a woman to remain confident in what she wants out of a relationship.
In a healthy relationship with good communication both partners:
Treat each other with respect
Feel heard when sharing feelings and thoughts
Do not criticize each other
Feel supported
Actively listen and engage
Compromise
If you believe you are in an abusive relationship, please reach out to trusted family, friends or even doctors and counselors. If you don’t feel safe reaching out to them, you may find the following hotlines helpful:
There are also other creative ways individuals are reaching out to women who may be in abusive relationships. Check out the 2 photos below for some helpful ideas.
Individuals are using social media to help abusees in very creative ways. A lady on Facebook used a skincare business as a front and gave instructions on how to contact her. Fresca posted in the comments of this post and said that in the 3 short days after this post hit social media, she had been contacted by over 275 women who were in an abusive situation.
Another way that people are reaching out to help those who are being abused or feel unsafe on a date is by offering what is called an “Angel shot” at the bar. All a woman has to do is go up to the bar and order an angel shot. There are different ways she can order it that lets the bartender know how much danger she is in. This is a way for females to get out of a harmful or potentially harmful situation in a discreet way.
Some women feel they cannot reach out to others because they are scared of what their abuser will do to them if they find out. These are just a couple of creative alternatives that help insure the safety of the victim.
If you or someone you know is a victim of verbal abuse, call 1-866-331-9474, chat at loveisrespect.org or text “loveis” to 22522, any time, 24/7/365.
Madisen Morris
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