Love Shouldn't Hurt...an essay about how more education is needed to stop teen dating violence.

Why is it that more teenage girls have become involved in physically and emotionally abusive relationships? Perhaps it is the lack of education girls are given about dating violence. In the last five years the increase in dating violence has gone up rapidly. One out of three girls will have experienced some sort of abusive relationship by the time she is 18. That means approximately more than eight million teen girls will have gone through physical, verbal, or sexual abuse with their boyfriends (Murray 7). Also one out of five college girls will experience some form of dating abuse (Dating p4). These statistics are horrifying, and unless some action is taken in educating girls on how to prevent dating violence the numbers could rise even more.

So why is teen dating violence so common? There are several factors that contribute to teen dating violence; they will be listed in the paragraphs that follow.

Sexual abuse in genogram

Emotional abuse in genogram

Physical abuse in genogram

Teenagers succumb easily to peer pressure. If girls believe that the abusive relationship their friends have is "normal" the girl in the relationship doesn't know that what she's experiencing is actually abuse and is not normal (Murray 13).

Although society believes that women and men are more equal now than ever, teenage girls sometimes hold fast to the notion that guys are dominant and girls are submissive. Girls are also expected to have boyfriends in high school, to be accepted because girls believe they should be the ones solving the problems in the relationship. (Murray 13).

Because teens don't have much dating experience, they often don't know what is acceptable behavior in a relationship and what is not. Girls end up confusing jealousy and possessiveness as being acceptable in the relationship. To make matters worse teens don't always feel comfortable going to adults with their problems. Teenagers...