The association "En avant tout (s)" publishes a study on sexual, psychological or physical violence against very young women. They are particularly exposed to domestic violence, tells us this unprecedented survey.
If violence against women is more publicized today, too many blind spots remain. En avant tout (s) was interested, and this is a first, in sexual, psychological or physical violence committed against adolescent girls and very young adults. Between November 25, 2019 and June 30, 2020, the association analyzed 1,416 conversations on the chat of the commentonsaime.fr site, the objective of which is to explain what falls within the healthy relationship or not. "The approach of En avant tout (s) is first and foremost to address a young audience, fearful of institutions, suffering from a lack of identification on the part of supervising adults, a public off the radar", says Forward All (s) president Margaux Nasreddine in the report.
# 1 The victims are very often under 25
According to the study, the 16-20 age group is the most affected by sexual, psychological or physical violence, which represents 47% of victims. "This can perhaps be explained by an entry into adulthood and the beginnings of sexuality, at a time when one can still be uninformed and very vulnerable, when the codes of a healthy relationship do not. are not clearly established in society ", says Louise Delavier, study coordinator. In 70% of situations, the victims are younger than their attacker (1 to 12 years younger).
# 2 Who is attacking?
Assaults are mainly committed by boyfriends (33.3% of the 315 cases reported) and ex-boyfriends (26.7%). But family members can also be involved (20.7%). Fathers and mothers are notably "mentioned several times: 27 and 11 cases respectively." In many situations, violent people do not question themselves or recognize "some guilt in taking action, because their goal is not to advance the relationship through healthy conflict, but to deny the existence of the other in order to subdue them."
"This position of domination of the violent person over the victim leads to a lasting hold. In 58.4% of cases, a person under the age of 26 remains locked in his relationship for two years or more", details the investigation. And financial dependence is often mentioned on the chat to explain this situation of domination.
# 3 Types of violence
Four types of violence are widely mentioned by victims: psychological violence (70.7% of reported cases), verbal (53.9%), sexual (41.3%) and physical (39.2%). "The same victim can suffer a combination of different types of violence", adds the report. Jealousy is an often used pretext: it represents 24.0% of cases.
Good news despite everything: young women will speak more quickly about violence than their elders (33.3% against 19%). "23% of young victims come on the chat during the first months of the relationship", indicates the survey. However, young women remain "a public very little noticed by the structures, and therefore very little helped", concludes Louise Delavier.
3919: the telephone number for women victims of violence. (Free and anonymous).