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Tuğçe Çetinkaya, Research Assistant at TED University Gender Studies Center: “It is very important to establish units at universities where they can receive psycho-social and legal counseling for students who are exposed to dating violence and need professional support.”

*** This release is originally published in Turkish.
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ISTANBUL (TR) - Gender Studies Center, operating under TED University (TEDU), conducted an up-to-date research on the awareness of dating violence. 61.8% of the participants, 78% of whom are female TEDU students, state that they had a dating relationship at the time they participated in the survey. According to the results of the research, 3 out of every 4 male university students (74.4%) think that the behavior of "not accepting the 'no' answer about sexuality and trying to persuade" is dating violence. The same rate rises to 97.8% for female students.

15.4% of men do not think that gender inequality normalizes dating violence

TED University Research Assistant Tuğçe Çetinkaya gave information about the research that was carried out to reveal students' awareness of dating violence and stated that female students show more interest in sharing information about dating violence than men. Stating that the rate of disagreement with the role of gender inequality in the normalization of dating violence was 15.4% higher for male students than for females (1.4%), Çetinkaya said, “For me, one of the most important results of the research is that 78.1% of the students participating in the research stated that they had a relationship where they were exposed to dating violence.”

Social acceptance makes it difficult to define violence

Emphasizing that it is very important to establish units where students who are exposed to dating violence and need professional support can receive psycho-social and legal counseling and that these units can carry out an effective work, Çetinkaya continued his words as follows: may have repercussions. The normalization of violence through social acceptance makes it difficult to define the behaviors that are exposed. The state of being unidentified brings the risk of not being able to recognize the violence and ending the relationship. Considering that the dating relationship usually begins to be experienced during adolescence, studies that can increase social awareness of dating violence become even more important. In this way, it may be possible to understand that behaviors that mean dating violence are not ordinary or personal issues.”

Humiliating in front of others is also seen as violence

Çetinkaya said, "These similarities point to the promising aspects of the research results. Jealousy, which is generally seen as one of the usual consequences of feeling love, is one of the two behaviors least associated with the concept of "love" by all students. Secondly, it is seen that the behavior with the highest rate of agreeing that it means dating violence is “to humiliate others by making destructive criticism.” Therefore, a behavior pattern that is an example of psychological violence, which is not as visible and identifiable as physical violence, is perceived by all of the participating students. appears to be the pattern of behavior most associated with violence.”

Taking action according to the results of the research

Stating that they focused on the problems identified in the research after the completion of the study, Tuğçe Çetinkaya said, “Who is next to you? Stating that they carried out an online event titled "Dating Violence and Drama", he said, "In the summer internships, we created a working group on dating violence and prepared an awareness brochure with its outputs. In addition, we are planning to organize seminars on topics such as gender roles, masculinity and consent construction, and activities that can help students cope with the problems they may encounter in their interpersonal relationships with the Department of Psychology.”