{"id":56729,"date":"2023-02-27T15:21:37","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T23:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=56729"},"modified":"2023-02-27T15:21:37","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T23:21:37","slug":"teens-confront-epidemic-of-dating-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=56729","title":{"rendered":"Teens Confront Epidemic of Dating Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_66 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_66\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span><a class=\"tdb-author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/author\/peter-white\/\">Peter White<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_67 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_67\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2023-02-27T11:36:33-08:00\">Feb 27, 2023<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_68 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_68\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The Centers for Disease Control &amp; Prevention recently flagged an alarming increase in teen dating violence, with some surveys showing rates as high as 1 in 3 relationships.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_69 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_69\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"entry-thumb td-animation-stack-type0-2\" title=\"teen_dating\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/teen_dating.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/teen_dating.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/teen_dating-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/teen_dating-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/teen_dating-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/teen_dating-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/teen_dating-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/teen_dating-1068x712.jpg 1068w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_70 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_70\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Young people are coming of age without knowing how to create a loving relationship or what the warning signs are that maybe they\u2019re not in a good one.<\/p>\n<p>So says Ana Campos, 17, who was blinded by \u201cfake love\u201d and thought everything was fine. Her sister recognized the red flags Ana was ignoring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was very manipulative. He would constantly like, check my phone without my permission, and just be angry over the smallest things,\u201d Campos recalled. \u00a0She has been in therapy for two years. Campos is slowly leaving her toxic relationship behind.<\/p>\n<p>She is one of a growing number of teenage activists dedicated to educating their peers about the dangers of teen dating violence and how to prevent it. The Centers for Disease Control &amp; Prevention recently flagged an alarming increase in teen dating violence, up from the one out of 12 teens who reported having experienced it in 2021. Some youth surveys report the number of victims at one out of three.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget2\" title=\"Why Schools Need to Teach Relationship Skills\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kR5xsBIdqY4?feature=oembed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-10=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Ana Campos shares the red flags she missed early on in a relationship that became abusive. She says schools should provide education on relationships, including recognizing \u2018red flags\u2019 and \u2018green flags\u2019, so that teens understand what constitute a safe and healthy relationship and can break the cycle of violence.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An EMS briefing marking February as Teen Dating Violence Prevention month featured four high school students who work with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cpedv.org\/\">California Partnership to End Domestic Violence<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s valuable to have youth speaking out on these issues because they are able to give you an inside peak as to what relationships, both intimate and friends and peers, look like today,\u201d said Megan Tanahashi, communications analyst for the Partnership.<\/p>\n<p>Isha Raheja started working with the House of Ruth women\u2019s shelter last year. \u00a0She promoted the Awareness through Art Showcase against teen dating violence at her school but it was a hard sell to some of her classmates. Many of the fliers she posted around campus were torn down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s no surprise to me that teen dating violence can be regarded as taboo by some,\u201d she said. Now a senior, Raheja leads a sex education reform club at her school and she recruited one reluctant classmate whose parents had opted her out of sex education.<\/p>\n<p>When Raheja first talked to her about dating violence, her classmate was taken aback and said it might not be an appropriate subject. But she came back the next day and they kept talking. Soon the girl was regularly attending club meetings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpeaking on a personal level with individuals to turn apathy amongst students to empathy helped me build a group of like-minded individuals and further progress,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Maya Henry said she will never feel safe on public transit. \u00a0\u201cI ride the bus every day. That is a place where I have been a target of sexual assaulted more than once.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing about it is that it robs you of your innocence forever, and I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s something that you could ever really give back or take back, and I hope one day that\u2019ll happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She volunteers at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peaceoverviolence.org\/\">Peace Over Violence<\/a>, a youth violence prevention center headquartered in Los Angeles. She says her friends have a buddy system whenever anyone goes out so they can track each other\u2019s whereabouts.<\/p>\n<p>Healing requires unlearning certain behaviors, attitudes, and stigmas, Henry said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt starts with making the conscious effort to not judge yourself or others\u2026 but to actually sit down with someone who may have inflicted violence on someone else and try and find a place where instead of looking at them and thinking about the violence they caused, think about the potential they have to unfurl that violence and apologize and learn and make right their wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Restorative justice can\u2019t make the trauma disappear but it can help both victim and perpetrator get beyond it. Henry noted that it\u2019s hard to be joyful without feeling safe but there are places she feels very safe and comfortable.<\/p>\n<p>Armaan Sharma is a sophomore at a small private school in Fremont, a Bay Area suburb with a 60% Asian population.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget4\" title=\"Teen Dating is Healthy, Not Talking About It Isn\u2019t\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7XdJm4ZlgHk?feature=oembed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-10=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>An open and respectful dialogue on dating and relationships between parents and teens is key to keeping kids safe in their relationships, says Armaan Sharma.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In his freshman year, Sharma took a class called\u00a0<em>Choices<\/em>\u00a0that briefly mentioned relationships. \u201cWhy don\u2019t we teach about relationships more? Everyone thinks that developing relationships it\u2019s an natural skill that all humans have. If that were true, why do we see 1 in 3 teens in America experience some sort of dating violence, whether physical, sexual, emotional or psychological?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sharma noted that underregulated social media is posing a greater threat to youth with each passing day. Instagram is a platform where perpetrators of violence or predators have easy access to a whole lot of youth, he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNetflix has movies like 365 days, which quite literally romanticize rape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sharma says teen dating violence can affect everyone, including men, and, in fact, marginalized groups like the LGBTQ community, often experience much higher rates of such violence but they are under-represented in the movement to end it. \u201cIt makes no sense because we can\u2019t attempt to solve a problem that affects everyone if everyone isn\u2019t involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The conversation should begin at home, says Kandee Lewis, CEO\/President of Positive Results Center and Founder of Black Women Leaders of Los Angeles. The\u00a0 Board of Supervisors named Lewis Woman of The Year in 2017. She works with youth and parents on domestic violence, sexual assault, and suicide prevention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important to talk to our children about what a healthy relationship is, what is acceptable behavior and what is unacceptable behavior,\u201d says Lewis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe all want to be loved and we want to be accepted. And so, if we\u2019re not getting the kind of attention that we need, we will go and seek that negative attention. It\u2019s still attention and we\u2019re gonna get it from wherever we can find it,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour child really wants to know that you care, because if you don\u2019t take the time to talk to your child, someone else will. And that other person could be the abuser.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ByPeter White Feb 27, 2023 The&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56730,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56729\/revisions\/56730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}