EARLY INTERVENTION WILL CHANGE GEORGIA'S RANKING

GOAL CEO Gail Rothman shares insights into ending the cycle of domestic violence

The news reports have become all too common.  In early April, a disgruntled ex-boyfriend walked into the CNN Center and, after dragging her by the hair, shot and killed 22-year- old Clara Riddles point blank in the face.  In another report, a 19-year old woman was murdered, her body dismembered by her ex-boyfriend. His reason for committing this heinous crime? The young woman, a college freshman home for Spring Break, informed him that she wanted to end the relationship, that she was now dating someone else. 

The tragic stories of these women have become all too common in a culture that has accepted violence as a part of relationships.  We shake our heads and perhaps think for a moment about the families left to deal with the aftermath of a life cut short when we should be asking: Were there signs that her ex-boyfriend was mentally or emotionally unstable? Could she have avoided a courtship with him altogether? Do today’s young girls, engaging in their first romantic relationships, know what it means to be safe? Do they understand and know the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships? Do girls confuse chaos with passion? How many of today’s tween and teenage girls will not reach the age of 25, becoming victims of relationship crimes?

On the front page of the AJC Metro Section on May 16th, Atlanta found out that “Georgia ranks 7th in men who kill women”.  The most disturbing aspect of the article is that in one  study, the majority of the victims were “intimate partners” of their murderers.   We are faced with the gruesome reality that in Georgia we have an epidemic of relationship violence directed against women. 

Attorney General Thurbert Baker is quoted in the article saying, “We have to find ways to lower that number.  I don’t want to be on anybody’s chart when we talk about that statistic”.  It is clear we can no longer sit back and allow our children to learn about relationships from violent television images and misogynist song lyrics that portray women as objects to be controlled and dominated at the hands of those who purport to love them.

Recently, my 11-year-old son’s school held puberty classes, teaching the boys and girls (separately) about the changes that would take place in their bodies.  In the 1980s, faced with rising numbers of adolescent drug use, schools began to teach students, at a young age, about the dangers of drugs and how to “Just Say No”.  In both of these cases, it was recognized that early intervention and education can change outcomes.  It is now time for schools to step up and start teaching what, until now, we have assumed that children automatically understood – the elements of a healthy relationship. 

Just as boys and girls experience puberty in different ways, violence prevention needs to account for the differences in messages that males and females receive about their roles in a relationship. Boys need male role models to guide them in rejecting the notion that “real men” dominate and control the women in their lives. 

Adolescence is the time in a girl’s life when her ideas about power and control, including violence and abuse are cemented. Girls need a safe, gender-specific, supportive environment to learn to recognize and reject the destructive messages that devalue girls and desensitize society to violence and aggression that is directed at women and girls.  Girls also need to develop the skills to recognize the signs of violence, critique the culture of violence in which they live, get out of dangerous relationships early, and make better choices when considering dating and peer relationships.

Early intervention during adolescence with gender-specific and age-appropriate methods will break the cycle of violence.  As a direct result of this investment in our children, future generations will understand that violence has no place in a healthy relationship and Georgia will take the lead in deconstructing the culture of violence and saving women’s lives.

GOAL is currently developing “Recognizing & Rejecting Violence and Abuse,” a curriculum module to address violence in the lives of adolescent girls.

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