Every year in the month of February, a spotlight is put on teen dating violence. Teen dating violence occurs to one in three teens in the US. This violence does not only consist of physical, it can be sexual, emotional, and sometimes even mental. This also occurs in 43% of college students. This year’s theme is “Hands Unite: Do your Part.” According to Loveisrespect.org, “Loveisrespect wants to empower young people to build healthy relationships from the ground up. Your hands are a tool for creation, and they play a role in ending dating abuse. Your hands are made for loving and helping—not hurting the ones you love.”

There have been some students at Seymour High School that have experienced teen dating violence. Some students believe that teen dating violence is rare and will most likely not happen to them. This is false. Teen dating violence happens all the time, but it is just not recognized often. This does not mean that relationships are always a bad idea, but precautions need to be taken. Junior Andrew Hunter says, “My advice to those who experience dating violence is to seek help from a someone who you can trust whether it be an adult or not. You can look at how the person acts besides being with their friends, or seeing how their friends act or listening to your friends because sometimes your friends can see things that you can’t.”

Teens who are in these situations typically do not know how to get out of the situation. They either feel they can’t leave, or they simply just think this is how all relationships are. Junior Alexia York says, “Coming from someone who was in a mentally toxic situation for a long time, what someone could say to you or how they treat you whether it’s what they say to you, or their actions could be very detrimental and you actually begin to believe the things they say to be true, and it can ruin future relationships for you because you lose your self-confidence. The longer you are in this situation the harder it will be to get out of it, because you will develop a sort of co-dependence to that person.”

Teen dating violence is something that can scar someone for a very long time. This violence can lead to mental scarring, or even physical. These are things that no one wants to happen to them. There usually isn’t a warning that it is about to happen to someone. No one ever expects it to happen to them but it does. To talk to someone about teen dating violence confidentially call 1-866-331-9474.