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Crisis support line:
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1-800-249-4789
Non-emergency
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HAVEN
P.O. Box 576
The Dalles, OR 97058 USA
Office: 1-541-296-1662
Email: haven@gorge.net
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Teen-Dating Violence Myths
- Myth: It can't happen to me.
- Fact: More than 1 in 10 teenagers experience physical violence in their dating relationships.
- Myth: Jealousy and possessiveness are signs of true love.
- Fact: Jealousy and possessiveness are signs that the person sees you as a possession. It is the most common early warning sign of abuse.
- Myth: Teen dating violence isn't really that serious. It’s just kids goofing around.
- Fact: Thirty percent of all women who are murdered in the United States are killed by their husband or boyfriend. According to an Oregon study that same high percentage applies to teens aged 15 to 19. Also, 60 percent of all rapes reported to rape crisis centers are committed by acquaintances, and the majority of victims are aged 16 to 24.
- Myth: Men are abused by women just as often as women are abused by men.
- Fact: According to U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics, 95 percent of the reported incidents of assaults in heterosexual relationships are committed by males.
- Myth: Alcohol causes men to be violent.
- Fact: Many men who abuse do not drink heavily, and many alcoholics do not beat their partners. Also, abusers who do drink don't necessarily give up their violent behavior when they give up drinking. While some abusers do beat their partners while they are drunk, the alcohol acts as their excuse but is not the cause of violence.
- Myth: Victims bring on the abuse themselves; they ask for it.
- Fact: Perpetrators believe they have the right to use abuse to control their partners, and they see the victim as less than equal to themselves. The victim has no control over the abuser.
- Myth: If a person stays in an abusive relationship, it must not really be that bad.
- Fact: People stay in abusive relationships for a number of reasons: fear: economic dependence; confusion, loss of self-confidence; not recognizing what's happening is abuse; or belief that the abuser will change. Leaving the relationship puts the victim at the highest risk of injury or death.
