A community outreach team from the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office urged juniors and seniors at Brownsville Eary College High School on Monday to recognize basic warning signs for teen dating violence and speak up when they see them.
In a presentation timed to Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, Art Villarreal, unit supervisor for the DA’s domestic violence unit, led a discussion about how to recognize warning signs for teen dating violence and digital abuse.
Vilarreal said abuse often starts with the perpetrator trying to control the victim by:
>> Restricting access to friends on Facebook or other socia media,
>> Sending negative, insulting, threatening emails, tweets or digital messages,
>> Using apps to keep track of the victim,
>> Sending unwanted, explicit pictures and demanding that similar such photos be sent in return, and
>> Constanty sending texts, and looking through the victim’s phone.
Villarreal urged the students to recognize potentially abusive behaviors in their friends and themselves.
Citing the Urban Institute as the source, he provided these statistics:
>> 23% of dating teens report they have been digitally victimized by their partners;
>> 84% of digital abuse victims said they were also psychologically abused;
>> 52% said they were also physically abused, and
>> 33% said they were also sexually coerced.
Valerie Silva, a junior, said she found the presentation informative.
“It opened my eyes on the different ways that you can be abused, she said, adding that she had seen evidence of the kinds off abuse that were talked about, personally and with friends.
“They had me to where I was supposed to hang out only with them and not anyone else, and that I was supposed to lie,” she said, adding that she left the relationship.
Max Vargas, a senior, said he found the presentation helpful because it provided information on how to deal with abusive situations if and when they occur.
Villarreal urged the teens to reach out for help if they were experiencing abusive behaviors in their relationships. Statistically, he said about 15 people out of the 122 students in attendance probably were.
Places to seek help locally include Friendship of Women, (956) 544-7412, and the Family Crisis Center, (956) 423-9304.
