Be In A Healthy Dating Relationship

Newspapers today report a lot of stories about abusive relationships. In most of these stories, the victims are mostly women.It seems like today, it is but a common sight to see images of women with faces and bodies badly bruised and beaten attached to news stories about abusive relationships. This is definitely a tell-tale sign that, statistically, women are more prone to becoming the victims of abuse.

However, it isn’t just bruises that will tell you that a woman is in an abusive relationship.

Abusive men these days are wiser, and they resort to other modes of abusive behaviour to control the women they are dating, such as moral, psychological and emotional abuse. Most of the time, women who are in an abusive relationship usually become insecure, unsure of themselves and with deflated self-confidence.

These women have been called, ‘fat’, ‘ugly’, ‘slut’ or ‘bitch’ by the men whom they trusted, loved, and relied upon to protect them.

The sad truth is that abusive relationships are rampant in our society nowadays. It is about time that this changed.

Women have to empower themselves against abusive dating relationships and must be aware of signs of healthy dating relationships, such as the following:

1.  The opportunity to do things independently – it has been discovered in several independent studies that abusive men are insecure men. These men do not want their girlfriends or their wives to outshine them, fearing that these women will become so independent that they’d leave them. Thus, abusive men insist in guarding women in everything they do, claiming that they are doing it to protect them.

This is wrong. A woman is in a healthy dating relationship if she is allowed to do things on her own---on her own pace, on her own time. Gone are the days when women rely to their men on everything. The women of today flourish in independence. When a woman is given the opportunity to do things for her and for her loved ones, she grows, making her a happy and contented woman that can positively contribute to the relationship.

2.  The opportunity to argue, discuss and compromise – it is but normal in every relationship to have an argument once in a while. This is primarily because we are raised in different environments, affecting the way we process and interpret things. A woman is in a healthy relationship if when there is an argument between her and her beau, she is given the opportunity to discuss her issues, defend her side and compromise. When a woman is in an abusive relationship, she is not given any opportunity to defend her opinions and choices, and is left with no option but to simply nod and follow the decisions of her beau.

3.  The opportunity to breath – A woman is in a healthy dating relationship if she is provided with a space to grow or to pause and think. In abusive dating relationships, women are noteven allowed to think for themselves and are mandated to follow the whims and caprices of their beau.

Women, like men, are given equal chances to life, this is a mantra that must be remembered by women to avoid abusive dating relationships.