Why?
You would think that reading disturbing news online and seeing it on T.V. daily would pretty much make me numb to any outrageous news. However, I am once again baffled. I was reading an article online about physical abuse in teen relationships. What kind of world are we living in? What on earth are teenage boys and girls doing abusing their girlfriends/boyfriends. This particular article talked about a program called TEAR that young women formerly abused set up in order to educate and help other young women being abused by boyfriends. I was astounded that this actually happens as frequently as it does. CNN.com stated, "one in five high school girls will become the victim of dating violence, according to a 2001 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association." That is outrageous!! Why are these women tolerating this abuse? And where are their parents? When I was in high school there was no way I could have hidden bruises from my parents, I would swear they gave me the once over at least once a day. (Of course they were probably looking more for tattoos or piercings more than they were looking for signs of abuse, but either way they would have seen.) But should parents be looking for signs of abuse? According to this article they should.I can remember being in high school and having a friend whose boyfriend physically and mentally abused her. For me, staying in this type of relationship is almost unimaginable. However, I remember that she did stay in the relationship for almost 4 yrs. I found her parents particularly naive especially since I actually told her mother that this boyfriend was abusing her daughter and she refused to believe me. I thought the fact that her parents didn't pick up on the abuse was because they were simply naive and in denial. From reading this article it sounds like a lot of parents are missing out on the signs their children are being abused. Is it just because parents don't pay as much attention anymore? Are they too busy with everything else going on in life? Or are these women just really good at hiding it.? But why hide it? I mean do these women really think there is no way out. They are in high school, they don't have kids making them feel obligated to the relationship or money holding them stranded. What is it? It's high school, high school should be fun and care-free.
This article on CNN.com stated that, "the girls say the relationships were so intense, they thought 'this must be love'." Is this really possible, do high school girls really feel this way, like this is actually love? As hard as I try I will likely never understand how any one person can mistake hitting for love. What concerns me is that young women are seeing this as love. What does that say about our society or the way these woman are being raised? I know some people blame T.V. for the violence in the world but I find that a little hard to accept. But if it's not that what is it? Something in society is allowing young girls to be abused and feel that this is what love is. I feel sorry for these women for thinking that treatment like that is a form of love. It just makes me question the world that these women are being raised in where they think it acceptable to be abused by significant other.
Then there is the other side, the boys. What possess these boys to do this type of thing? How were these young men raised and how did they learn this type of behavior? Again, what does this say about our society? It's a scary thought to think that these young boys are learning that this behavior is acceptable. Is there a some truth in the fact that kids are seeing too much violence on T.V. that brings them to this type of behavior? Or is there something else? Is it their parents, peers, or something else? There must be something causing this. Children are not born to hit, it is learned.
posted by amanda @ 5:28 PM
1 Comments:
I totally agree with you that is is an extremely bad problem that people need to face. My best friend in high school was in this type of relationship and we all tried to get her out of it, but nothing we did could help. I know her parents had to know because she was covered with bruises all the time, I don't know why they didn't do anything, I guess they were naive like you were saying. I think this is an awful problem that we need to take seriously so this doesn't continue to occur.
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