Love Letters: When A Relationship Hurts

Love Letters

‘Love Letters’ is a Petal + Sass blog feature that regularly asks a group of diverse women in their 20’s and 30’s about their experiences with health, sex, emotional wellness, body image, college, careers – and what they wish they had known themselves as teenagers. Visit the Love Letters’ To My Former Self page to learn more about the contributors.

Question Posed: What would you advise a girl who found herself in a dangerous relationship – either physically or emotionally abusive? How would you advise her friends to better support her in this situation?

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CONSENT: Learn it, Live it, Love it, Love it, Love it.

Do You Want To Have Sex.

Do You Want To Have Sex.

Is this ok?

Do you want this?

Does that feel good to you?

Should I keep going?

Should I stop?

What would you like me to do to you?

Do you want to have sex right now?

These are consent seeking phrases you should be exchanging with a partner when you are about to hook up, while you are hooking up, or when sexual intimacy is advancing to another level. You can never ask “too many times.” Being a conscientious or good lover entails more than just thinking you know when the time is right or where the g-spot’s hiding (hint: you didn’t leave it in the glove box). It involves listening to each other and respecting boundaries.

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Relationship Violence and the Teenage Girl

Abusive relationships

A recent issue of seventeen Magazine highlighted an important- and growing- issue that young women are facing with alarming frequency; relationship violence. Chances are, you or a close friend of yours have been in a relationship with a partner where the power imbalance has been way off: from controlling how often you text, to fat shaming or even threatening or acting out physical abuse.

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