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" We&amp;#039;ve seen Rick and Terri on Degrassi, Gary and Amber on Teen Mom, and as much as I hate to admit it, Ron and Sam on Jersey Shore. It happened to Rihanna. It happened to Halle Berry. It happened to Madonna and it can happen to YOU. I may not have been in college for that long, but it doesn&amp;#039;t take a rocket scientist here to see that most people our age, regardless of whether they&amp;#039;re a boy or girl, think that they&amp;#039;re invincible. They drink underage, but are surprised when they find themselves throwing up in the bathroom all night or in the hospital from alcohol poisoning. They have unprotected sex, but are shocked when the doctor tells them that they&amp;#039;re pregnant or have contracted an STD. Finally, they abuse their significant others, both verbally and physically, but are surprised when they end up in jail or worse... their partner ends up dead. 43% of female college students report that they&amp;#039;ve experienced dating abuse, according to data recently released in Liz Claiborne Inc.&amp;#039;s Love Is Not Abuse 2011 College Dating Violence and Abuse Poll. That&amp;#039;s nearly 1 in every 3 women! It could be one of your floor mates or the girl you sit next to in your lecture class. Most girls don&amp;#039;t even know that they&amp;#039;re in an abusive relationship. Don&amp;#039;t think that him telling you how to dress or telling you to hang out with him instead of your family and friends is okay. It&amp;#039;s controlling and it&amp;#039;s abuse. Don&amp;#039;t think that him threatening to hurt you if you leave him is okay. It&amp;#039;s abuse. If he wants to have sex and you don&amp;#039;t, say no. You have the power to stand up for yourself, say no or stop, and get help. If you&amp;#039;ve been abused, I know what you&amp;#039;re thinking... &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not that simple.&amp;quot; If you don&amp;#039;t feel comfortable telling someone yourself, ask a friend to help you. The poll also says that half of college students say that they&amp;#039;ve had a friend who has experienced abusive dating behaviors. Yet, 58% of them don&amp;#039;t know how they can help. Speak up. No one deserves to be verbally abused and forced to think that they aren&amp;#039;t good enough. No one deserves to be punched or choked because they didn&amp;#039;t what was asked of them. Love is not abuse, love is respect. If you, or anyone you know, has been verbally or physically abused, please visit loveisnotabuse.com or loveisrespect.org "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/school/a16470/love-is-not-abuse/>