In her article, Michael L. Printz Award-winning author King shares her personal story of a long-distance relationship that began positively but spiraled into emotional and physical abuse. At 17, King's romantic notions turned possessive when her boyfriend addressed her as 'Mrs.', prompting her mother to advise a breakup. Despite her mother's concerns, she remained attached and later reconnected, only to face a toxic relationship filled with gaslighting and threats. King emphasizes the societal tendency to blame women for staying in abusive relationships, highlighting the alarming statistics on intimate partner violence among young women.
At age 21, after five years of separation by an ocean, I started an in-person relationship with him. It was deep and real love—or so I thought.
I was smart and educated. I knew about domestic violence, and I knew what he was doing was wrong, but no one had told me how to actually handle it.
I thought being Mrs. was romantic, and my mom was overreacting. I was deeply in love but was very confused by these behaviors.
Intimate partner violence is the number one cause of serious injury or death of women ages 18 to 24 in America.
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