Teen Dating Violence

For one of my chosen topics, I chose to write about teen dating violence. According to our textbook, "Heavy Hands" (Gosselin, 2010), teen dating violence is "an act by an individual that is against another individual with whom that person has or has had a dating relationship and that is intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault or sexual assault, or that is a threat that reasonably places the individual in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault or sexual assault, but does not include defensive measures to protect oneself."

I chose this topic because it is a type of abuse I have seen blatantly occur to my friends and other people I know and I believe that there were even some elements of it in my first relationship. I think it's extremely important to educate our teens on and be aware of because when we are young we are very vulnerable and still learning how to have healthy relationships.

I chose to use an article I found on EBSCOhost titled "Measurement of Teen Dating Violence Attitudes: An Item Response Theory Evaluation of Differential Item Functioning According to Gender" by Edelen, et al. published in 2008. This study had participants fill out questionnaires about a variety of teen dating violence situations. In most situations, individuals seemed to identify with their same-gender role. This link will take you to the article: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3WxJEAv0d0uZFg4QWJvMTZSbjJBWEJMUzN3TkxZQQ/edit

I found this image on Google images and I thought it was a good photo relating to teen dating violence and it spreads the message that one needs to find a way to end the relationship (Gulbranson, 2005).

I found this video from @Katie Couric (2010) on CBSNews and thought it was great. It's somewhat long but it's very informative and I wanted to share it with everyone else. It covers a lot of issues pertaining to teen dating violence.



There were two internet sites that stood out to me, there were so many available for this topic! The first is Futures Without Violence (2012). It is a good website that covers most areas of abuse but also has a section on Tweens and Teens and lots of resources.

http://www.futureswithoutviolence.org/section/our_work/tweens_and_teens

The second website was Love is Respect (2011). I loved this website! I thought it was pretty objective in that it discussed both violence against men and women. You could also tell it was designed to appeal to a teen audience and it was filled with different information, current issues and examined media issues, like scenes in the show Mad Men.

http://www.loveisrespect.org/

For a news item, I was able to find a very current story that I have been following. This New York Times article from February 22, 2012 is about former University of Virginia lacrosse player that was convicted of killing his girlfriend.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/us/virginia-ex-lacrosse-player-convicted-in-killing-of-his-former-girlfriend.html

The song I chose is Runaway Love by Ludacris ft. Mary J. Blige, the video (2010) is posted below. I have a hard time choosing songs because so many are about women being abused and I try to be as objective as possible but this is a great song with a great message. The lyrics (2007) are listed to help you understand this emotional song along with the video.

Runaway Love

(feat. Mary J. Blige)

[Hook - Mary J. Blige]
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love

[Verse 1 - Ludacris]
Now little Lisa is only 9 years old
She's trying to figure out why the world is so cold
Why she's all alone and ain't never met her family
Mama's always gone and she never met her daddy
Part of her is missing and nobody will listen
Mama is on drugs getting high up in the kitchen
Bringing home men at different hours of the night
Starting with some laughs -- usually ending in a fight
Sneaking in her room while her mama's knocked out
Trying to have his way and little Lisa says 'ouch'
She tries to resist but then all he does is beat her
Tries to tell her mom but her mama don't believe her
Lisa is stuck up in the world on her own
Forced to think that hell is a place called home
Nothing else to do but get some clothes and pack
She says she's 'bout to run away and never come back.

[Hook - Mary J. Blige]
Runaway love [x8]

[Verse 2 - Ludacris]
Little Nicole is only 10 years old
She's steady trying to figure why the world is so cold
Why she's not pretty and nobody seems to like her
Alcoholic step-dad always wanna strike her
Yells and abuses, leaves her with some bruises
Teachers ask questions she making up excuses
Bleeding on the inside, crying on the out
It's only one girl really knows what she about
Her name is little Stacy and they become friends
Promise that they always be tight 'til the end
Until one day little Stacy gets shot
A drive by bullet went stray up on her block
Now Nicole stuck up in the world on her own
Forced to think that hell is a place called home
Nothing else to do but get her clothes and pack
She says she's 'bout to run away and never come back.

[Hook - Mary J. Blige]
Runaway love [x8]

[Verse 3 - Ludacris]
Little Erica is eleven years old
She's steady trying to figure why the world is so cold
So she pops X to get rid of all the pain
Plus she's having sex with a boy who's sixteen
Emotions run deep and she thinks she's in love
So there's no protection he's using no glove
Never thinking 'bout the consequences of her actions
Living for today and not tomorrow's satisfaction
The days go by and her belly gets big
The father bails out he ain't ready for a kid
Knowing her mama will blow it all outta proportion
Plus she lives poor so no money for abortion
Erica is stuck up in the world on her own
Forced to think that hell is a place called home
Nothing else to do but get her clothes and pack
She say she's about to run away and never come back.

[Hook - Mary J. Blige]
Runaway love
Don't keep on runnin'
Runnin' [4x]
Don't keep on running [x]
I know how you feel, I've been there
I was runnin' away too

I will run away with you [2x]

Runaway Runaway Love
Don't keep running away
I'll run away with you, if you want me too

[Outro - Ludacris:]
Yea, I can only image what you're going through ladies,
Sometimes I feel like running away myself,
So do me a favor right now and close your eyes,
And picture us running away together,
when we come back everything is gonna be okay,
Open your eyes.......