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RAPP Teaches Teens About Healthy Relationships

Ending the cycle of violence begins with education and awareness. We are proud of our role as one of the first and the largest providers of teen relationship violence prevention services in New York City. Our RAPP – Relationship Abuse Prevention Program - teaches thousands of high school students NOT ONLY what constitutes consent - but how to have a healthy relationship. In the past decade and a half, the Center has designed, developed and implemented school-based teen relationship abuse prevention programs that have reached more than a million students with the message that healthy, equal, and consensual relationships are necessary for a hopeful future.

Teenagers involved in relationship abuse have a difficult time learning academic subjects. Girls experiencing relationship abuse feel self-conscious and afraid, do not want to go to school, and find it difficult to study.

[1]  Victims of teen relationship abuse often exhibit harmful behaviors, such as using alcohol, tobacco or drugs; becoming pregnant, and attempting suicide.

[2]  Adolescents who harm their dating partners are more aggressive and more depressed than their peers.

[3] The rise of social media has only exacerbated the effects of teen relationship abuse.

In RAPP, students learn how to identify what it means to have healthy relationships. RAPP stresses the importance of setting strong boundaries, and being able to assertively say how something makes a person feel. Our students are taught abusive relationships are about power and control; and, about the different types of abuse which are emotional, verbal, and physical. They can recognize abuse within a relationship, and know what healthy relationships looks like.

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[1] Lipson, J. (Ed.). (2001). Hostile hallways: bullying, teasing and sexual harassment in school. New York: AAUW Educational Foundation.

[2]  Silverman, J. G., Raj, A., Mucci, L. A., & Hathaway, J. E.  (2001). Dating violence against adolescent girls and associated substance use, unhealthy weight control, sexual risk behavior, pregnancy and suicidality. Journal of the American Medical Association, 286(5), 572-579.

[3] Centers for Disease Control. (2012). Understanding teen dating violence fact sheet. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/teen_dating_violence.html.

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Did the President’s PSA at the Grammys have the Right Message?

The message at this year’s Grammys was loud and clear – stop violence against women. We watched as President Obama made his proclamation to end violence against women, and challenged artists to encourage their supporters to do the same. The President spoke the truth, 1 in 5 women will be victims of rape or attempted rape, and 1 in 4 women will face violence or abuse at the hands of an intimate partner.  He claimed violence against women is not OK, and launched the White House #Itsonus campaign – because in fact, it is on us all to stop the violence.  

In many songs and videos, violence against women is not only condoned but celebrated.  Following the President’s speech, Target aired a 3-minute music video ad of Imagine Dragons’ “Shot” about shooting everything they love. The President’s words were addressed to an audience that included Grammy nominees, Chris Brown, and R. Kelly.  What kind of message is being sent by saying we needed to stop the violence, while rewarding those personally involved with the violence. Violence against women is celebrated in many artists’ songs and videos. Songs and videos may demonstrate violence and the degradation of women, but these albums sell millions of downloads every day. When asking these artists to help stop the violence, what are we asking them to do?  

It is time to stop violence against women, and it is time to change the stigma associated with rape and abuse. Still assault against an intimate partner is not prosecuted as harshly as assault against another associate or a stranger.  Somehow we still see domestic violence as only a family problem, but violence against women is a social and a public health issue. The President is right that in one way #Itsonus, but in another way, it is on him and on every elected official. It is on us to keep up the pressure, to make sure the Violence Against Women Act is reauthorized next year, to make sure campuses receive needed fund to keep students safe from assault, and to make sure state and local laws support adequate shelter and permanent housing for survivors of domestic violence. It IS on us – AND our elected officials – AND on popular culture heroes like musicians and athletes - to change the conversation to help eliminate violence against women.