Partner Violence Common in Teens

Young love, what could be sweeter? As it turns out, too often it is far from sweet. New data from the Australian Institute of Family Studies has found that nearly one third of Australian young people aged 18-19 years old have experienced intimate partner violence in the past year.

The abuse is emotional, physical and sexual, often leveraged with social media and phones. Young women were also more likely to be victims of sexual abuse.

Without comprehensive respectful relationships education many young people turn to the internet for information and find a world of misogyny and sexual violence.

Almost half of boys have accessed porn online by the age of 12 and a recent study from Europe has found that 90% of porn shows verbal, physical and sexual violence towards women.

“Research from the Man Cave has found a third of teen boys admire Andrew Tate who advocates that women are there to serve men and is on charges of human trafficking of women,” says Patty Kinnersly, CEO of national prevention organisation Our Watch.

“Young people are desperate for information on how to engage in relationships and are using whatever means they can to make sense of it.

“Respectful relationships education should be taught in every school in the country beginning in primary school, in an age-appropriate way, so that young people can learn how to engage respectfully with each other and identify and challenge harmful behaviours and stereotypes.

“Young people need to learn what respectful and consensual relationships are – and porn sites and social media influencers pushing harmful forms of masculinity are not healthy or safe ways for our young people to learn about relationships.

“What we know is that almost all perpetrators of violence against women are men and almost all perpetrators have two key elements in common – they do not view women as their equals and do not respect women.

“It's vital that we're working with young men and boys in positive ways to promote healthier and more positive and respectful ways of being a man - and that we are reaching them where they are: at school, at home, at their sports club and online,” Kinnersly says.