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This production looks at cutting edge programs
designed to prevent teen dating violence. Shot on location
in Boston and Wilmington, Delaware, the program features
candid testimony from students and adults in school and
community settings. Practical techniques and exercises,
including the "Abuse/Respect Quiz" and the "Dating
Bill of Rights" create an awareness that will help
to stop this increasingly common, alarming phenomenon.
Eavesdrop on the conversation of any young
person today and chances are the focus of that conversation
will come around to relationships: who is "with"
so-and-so...who wants to be "with" whom. In former
times, it was how we defined ourselves. To a great extent,
it still is. Despite several decades of political and social
gains, women remain most at risk at home in their intimate
relationships. It is estimated that in more than 90% of
these relationships, the female is at risk from her male
partner.
Worse still are the fallout-effects of adult domestic violence
on young sons and daughters whose notions of what it means
to be an adult in an intimate relationship are derived from
observation in the home. Many popular media images compound
the problem by proffering unrealistic views of how "men"
and "women" engaged in close personal relationships
behave.
If family is the foundation of our society, then dating
relationships form the building blocks. It is here that
we practice for "real-life" commitments; here
where patterns are established and rules are made. Clearly,
many of our young people are getting skewed information.
In increasing instances, they are engaging in the same kinds
of power and control struggles that result in adult domestic
violence.
No pointing fingers, no blame. Using dynamic first-person
observations and interviews at multiple geographic locations,
along with powerful music and graphics, the Dating Bill
of Rights takes a cross-cultural look at people, programs
and techniques designed to intervene-- prevent and stop
dating violence among young people.
The Dating Bill of Rights has been distributed
nationally to schools and youth groups with coordinating
instructional materials.
Copies of this program are available for purchase through
Films
for the Humanities. In Delaware, contact the Office
of Prevention at (302) 892-4500
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