1. Georgia and Teen Dating Abuse
Georgia ranks first in the country for teen dating violence out of all fifty states according to a
2012 Center for Disease Control study.
In 2010, more than 100 teens lost their lives in Georgia to teen dating abuse and one in three
teens have experienced some form of dating abuse in the state of Georgia. Georgia ranks tenth
in the country for its rate at which men kill women in single victim homicides, according to the
Violence Policy Center.
According to Breakthecycle.com, teen-dating abuse comes in a variety of forms including
threats, insults, constant monitoring, intimidation and isolation, as well as stalking, physical, and
sexual abuse. Financial abuse, which is using money or access to accounts for power over a
partner, can also be a form, according to Loveisrespect.com; a website created by Break the
Cycle and the National Dating Abuse Helpline to help educate young people and adults become
educated about teen dating abuse.
The website estimates that about eighty percent of adults don’t recognize teen dating violence
as a problem.
Erica, a Georgia teen tells Georgia Health News that she had solid grades, came from a good
family, and played varsity girls’ sports at her Gwinnett County School. That’s when she met her
abuser. “He was cute. He was really sweet,’’ she says now, ten years later. “He really wooed
me.’’
Shortly after they began dating, her boyfriend started calling her constantly. “If I didn’t answer or
have time to talk he would get really mad at me and call me names,’’ says Erica, now 26. “He
started making me feel bad because I was playing so many sports,’’ she said. He grew upset
about her spending time with friends and after a few months of dating he began hitting her.
Gender stereotypes can play a role in abuse, such as expectations for what a female should do
in a relationship. Men have held greater power throughout history; therefore they are expected
to be dominant. This principle is introduced at a young age with concepts like “boy” and “girl”
colors, what boys and girls can do for fun and chauvinist jokes said Casey Corcoran, Director of
Boston’s Public Health Commission’s Start Strong initiative in an interview.
In Georgia, protective orders will only be given if the abuser has physically abused,
sexually abused or stalked them already. Harassment and threats don’t create qualification for a
protective order. Only if the abuser has previously abused the victim, can they be applicable for
legal protection, according to Georgia law. Judges and politicians need to be better informed
and need to take a wider view of domestic violence, according to Casey Corcoran.
According to Georgia school laws, a program for teen dating violence prevention is to be taught,
however the state does not have a curriculum created. They do however provide resources for
local school systems to develop a curriculum. O.C.G.A. § 20-2-314. Says that “The State Board
of Education shall develop, with input from appropriate experts, such as rape crisis centers and
family violence shelters, a rape prevention and personal safety education program and a
program for preventing teen dating violence for grade eight through grade 12 which are
consistent with the core curriculum provided for in Code Section 20-2-140…” which contradicts
the State’s current actions.
2. The Partnership Against Domestic Violence is an organization in Georgia that provides teen
dating violence prevention information to more than 13,000 teens and adults in the state. In
February the organization will hold it’s annual Teen Summit to publicize information about teen
dating violence.
At PADV, outreach and prevention director Alexis Champion, who has been working in the field
for about ten years and grew up here in Georgia, said that if there was one thing she could
change in the state it would be to start informing people from a young age about dating abuse
and working with them.
If Champion had one thing to tell high school students it would be “No one deserves to be
abused by someone their dating…you deserve better.”
SIDEBAR
Being a teen myself, I believe this is a widespread problem through all of Georgia. Almost every
teen knows someone who has been an abuser or victim, or been the abuser or victim. There’s
at least one girl on my team that is involved or has been involved in an abusive relationship.
Everyday in class I sit in a room of abusers or victims, which honestly didn’t occur to me until
now. It scares me that some of my friends are in abusive relationships.
What really upsets me the most about it is the fact that guys I’ve grown up with have turned into
abusers. Some I believe don’t fully realize that they are doing things that are abusive and others
don’t care that they are.
Disturbingly, dating abuse is made a joke, or even honored, especially in today’s society.
Popular books like Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey romanticize abusive and negative
relationships. Rape jokes and songs like “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem make abusive
relationships seem acceptable. Parents discourage their children from listening to these songs
which makes them more appealing to most teens, said Casey Corcoran, he encourages adults
to be more open and understanding, listen to children and teens, and to start talking to young
people about dating violence.
This problem is bigger than something that just schools can be responsible for educating on.
Parents, the media, our legal system, educators and teens are all responsible for teen dating
abuse being as big of a problem here in Georgia as it is.
