When Adriana Muñoz attended a teen dating violence awareness conference in Austin last year, she could not help but think about her classmates at Weslaco High School.
She was a sophomore at the time when her school counselor, Elva Rey, took her along with several other students to the February 2020 conference, which was hosted by the Texas Council on Family Violence. There, Muñoz learned about the red flags of a violent relationship.
Muñoz said she thought about all the couples she knows, and those she would see in campus hallways.
The most difficult part of being in a dangerous relationship as a teenager is knowing when you are in one, Muñoz said, “so we should educate teens about what is healthy and what is toxic to save them.”
Now a junior, Muñoz has joined the state council, which is Texas’ largest domestic violence coalition. The 17-year-old is also part of the Young Hearts Matter Leadership Board, a teen-led committee that will be hosting a virtual awareness event at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 25.
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, and Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez will be hosting a virtual proclamation Monday, also declaring February as Young Hearts Matter Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.
Muñoz said the event will focus on educating students about how to detect an unhealthy relationship and starting conversations among the attendees.
A screening of the Netflix documentary, “Audrie and Daisy,” is slated for the afternoon. The 2016 film follows two teenage girls who are sexually assaulted by classmates. Both girls get cyberbullied, pushing them to suicidal thoughts.
National student-led organization SafeBAE (Before Anyone Else) will be leading the panel discussion after the film. To register for the event, visit https://linktr.ee/TCFV.
“In high school, we still don’t know that much — we have a better understanding, but there is still a lot that we don’t know,” she said. “So by us talking about it in high school, we are able to use our voices and we can speak up and say, ‘No, this is wrong. This needs to change,’ and from there we can possibly gain more people that can be a part of this teen dating violence initiative.”
There are four kinds of behavior associated to teen dating violence, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: physical violence, sexual violence, psychological aggression and stalking.
Nearly one in every nine girls, and one in 36 boys, in high school have said they experienced sexual dating violence in the last year, according to a CDC study published in 2020.
The same study reported that 26% of women and 15% of men experienced a violent relationship before turning 18.
“Yes as teens we can start making some change, but I also think it goes back to adults because in the end we learn from what we see around us,” Muñoz said. “And I think that maybe if we start learning, if they start teaching us from home, we will know what’s wrong.”
Muñoz said the sharing of nude pictures among students is the most prevalent form of abuse she has witnessed at school.
“There’s even instances when I have seen that people have a whole folder for the girl’s pictures,” she said. “People need to learn that they are forever, that people put them out there and you can’t really get that back, and my goal is to educate about the dangers.”
To further teach teens about healthy relationships, Muñoz started an Instagram page called @We_Are_Victors. She often posts testimonies from victims of sexual abuse, and messages of encouragement for those who have also suffered.
Muñoz said she has been able to connect to sexual abuse victims through the page, and is looking forward to continue spreading awareness. She hopes to make this kind of work a career someday.
“We can start making change, and I think it’s about time,” Muñoz said. “We are young and we have a lot of difficulties we are facing already, and I don’t think teen dating violence should be one of them.”
