Research+Methods

Hi Girls, this is a rough draft on my Research Section for the Group Project. (I have already forwarded this to Sabrina last night)

Consider the following fictitious scenario that attempts to illustrate the events of a heterosexual relationship enduring the tribulations of “dating violence”:

Shelly, only but a teenager studies herself in front of the unusually, oblong mirror. She does not ponder about her current outfit, her flaws in her makeup or her finicky, curly black hair that refuses to act tamed. What her attention is entrenched in is her face, her wrist and her neck. No pieces of shiny jewellery are present to admire on these areas of her body but rather new forms expression. These forms of expression however, stem from her current boyfriend, Matthew. The night before, Shelly, for the first time experienced Matthew’s anger. Too upset to engage in a normal conversation, he lashed out at Shelly by insulting her naive character and her inability to perform the obligatory duties of a girlfriend. Shelly, more than frustrated walks away, until she feels the pressure of her wrist being crushed by Matthew’s hand. Her body jolts backwards into the wall, where his hands meet her neck, Shelly struggles to breathe as she squirms within his grip. In an effort to break free, Matthew strikes Shelly across the face. Her cries, whimpers and pleads to stop suddenly halt. She hears the words “I’m sorry”. However, with the assistance of time the occurrence of this altercation doubles, triples and exponentially grows. Left untreated, she begins to deteriorate.

Unfortunately, this fabricated narrative does not stretch that far from reality. According to the Department of Justice Canada, the termed used to describe such an event is referred to as “Dating Violence” and can be defined as the following “dating violence refers to the abuse or mistreatment that occurs between “dating partners”, individuals who are having- or may be moving towards- an intimate relationship, it also may occur in either heterosexual or same-sex relationships”. In addition to this, the Department also acknowledges the statistics revolving around this current issue by stating “20- 30 % of late adolescent- aged youth are experiencing Dating Violence”. The optimal decision would be to detach yourself from the abusive relationship, correct? Well, unfortunately not all situations are as clean cut and straightforward as saying “goodbye forever”. The following case scenarios presented to Elementary, High School and College and University students depict just how prevalent the issue of Date Violence is in Canada. In the first study, a sample group of 1,835 girls in grades 1 through 8 were asked to relate back to their experiences of abuse inflicted by their significant other. According to the findings, it was determined that “3% reported that their partners had threatened to physically force them to engage in sexual activities, 4% indicated that they had been physically forced to engage in sexual activities, 24% reported that their partners had hurt them emotionally; and 7.2% said they had been physically hurt”. The exposure to this statistic can only assist in the prevention of this issue from repeating to higher grades, correct? Unfortunately not, the same question was presented to 1,835 female students that were attending High School; the findings were as followed “8% said that their partners had threatened to use physical force to make them engage in sexual activities; 14% indicated their dating partner had physically forced them to engage in sex acts, 50% reported that they had been hurt emotionally; and 9% said that their dating partner had physically hurt them”. Fortunately, the investment of time by the Department of Justice Canada has proven to be beneficial because it has provided the population with information that may have been dismissed in terms of importance, but the question that arises once again is: is there a proactive plan(s) in place to reduce the increasing rates of dating violence? According to the last category of the case study, 7, 800 undergraduate students were presented the same question on abuse in past relationships. The following statistics were determined “35% of women surveyed indicated they had experienced at least one physical assault by a male dating partner, 28% of the women reported that they had been sexually abused in the 12 months prior to the study and 45% of the women said they had been sexually abused since leaving high school”. To assume that dating violence takes a premature halt at the College and University phases is an inaccurate portrayal of the truth; consider the following statistic that illustrates this issue as a permanent stigma rather than a short-lived thought “an estimated 1.7 million Canadian (about 16% of all women) had experienced at least once incident of sexual or physical assault in dating relationships since the age of 16”. One now knows the statistics underlying the problem, but what about the actual victim? According to recent studies it was determined that “among young women being victimized physically or sexually in a dating relationship is associated with increased risk of substance use, unhealthy weight control behaviours, sexual risk behaviours, pregnancy and suicidal behaviour”. This issue, that was once as small as a snowflake is now careening down the mountain, gaining momentum as more snowflakes begin to adhere to the surface. The same analogy can be applied to dating violence: the more the issue is allowed to expand and gain momentum, the more uncontrollable it becomes. The job that now rests in the hands of the people and the government is to immobilize the accumulation process and promote awareness among the Canadian population.