Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / May 1, 2013, edition 2 / Page 10
Part of Elon University Student Newspaper / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
COVER STORY / /m m ^0 ^ V V\4i \, Abusive relationships on campus is a sensitive topic, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be dis cussed. Elon alumna Brittany Moore ‘12 opened up about her tumultuous past and how Elon allowed her to help others 10 Katie Kolls MEDIA ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Sometimes on a college campus it’s difficult to discuss or acknowl edge serious problems within our society College is a time for fun and friendship and memories, and Elon’s particularly happy “bubble” environ ment only increases that sentiment. But the bubble offers limited protec tion from issues like relationship vio lence and sexual assault. One in three college relationships is estimated to experience some form of abuse, and Elon students are no exception. The statistics only get worse. Ac cording to the Rape. Abuse and Incest National Network, or RAINN. someone is sexually assaulted every two min utes in the United States. Two-thirds of these attacks are committed by someone the victim is familiar with. That number is higher among college students. 54 percent of cases will go unreported, and 97 percent of rapists will never spend a day in jail. What defines abuse? Relationship violence encompass es many types of abuse that we as college students may not immediately recognize as such. Becca Bishopric. Elon’s Coordinator for Health Promo tion and Violence Prevention and Response, broke down the various categories of abuse other than physi cal violence that college students may face. “The other forms of violence that people don’t often think of as vio lence may even be more prevalent (on campus]." Bishopric said. “We split it up into physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, social abuse, and economic abuse." Bishopric also cites verbal abuse as one of the most common forms of abuse. “Tearing someone down or tdling them that they’re not pretty or they’re a crappy boyfriend or girlfriend or partner... even those kinds of things fall under the real 1 of relationship violence.” Another unsuspected yet com ion force of abuse amongst college-aj ?d people and Elon students in par ticular is stalking or cyber-stalkir [. Bishopric includes things such as monitoring where a person parks each day reading their text messa es or hacking their Facebook as seric is factors and warning signs of an abusive relationship. “So often in unhealthy rela tionships we immediately go to sexual abuse and physical violenc or threats." Bishopric said, “but relati 1- ship violence can also be coercior and manipulation or tearing dow someone’s self-image." Bishopric described how an abusive relationship usually work in a cycle. The cycle begins with t e tension building phase, in which ne partner might act overly control! ig or Jealous of the other Fbllowing lis kind of behavior is an explosion.' ils doesn’t necessarily mean physica harm, but can be any kind of heimt- ened form of abuse, such as verbjl or social. After the explosion cones the reconciliation phase, when tt* abusive partner makes an apologl “It’s an apology but there’s alws an excuse with the apology" Bishlp- ric said. “And then [the cycle! willgo back to a period of calm before tile tension starts again." I This cycle is sometimes por trayed in pop culture references like television, movies and music. One such example is the music video for Rihanna and Eminem’s “Love The V\^y You Lie." which features a man and a woman going back and forth between happy moments and physi cal violence towards one another
Elon University Student Newspaper
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 1, 2013, edition 2
10
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75