'Teen Mom' Star's Boyfriend Is So Out of Control Her Mom Called the Cops

donderdag 12 september 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Love Teen Mom or hate Teen Mom, the reality series often shows the darker side of parenting teenagers. Teenage girls get pregnant. Teenage girls get the crap beaten out of them by their boyfriends. Look at Teen Mom 3 star Katie Yeager. New details about boyfriend Joey Maes have come out, alleging that the mercurial father of her little girl has gotten so violent at times that he once broke her nose.

Got that? A teenage girl had her nose broken by her boyfriend. That happened (or at least it's alleged that it happened) in real life.

This is not the puppy love, aww, so sweet, story that comes to mind when we think "teen relationship."

MTV cameras didn't catch that fight, or several others being reported by Radar, but they have shown some scary moments between the two young parents on Teen Mom 3 this season. Two weeks ago, the show ended with Joey tearing the couple's apartment apart while Katie cowered on the couch.

As a mother, it was hard to watch.

Teenage domestic violence is not "just a Teen Mom thing." This is not just something that happens to girls who end up pregnant in high school (to that point there isn't any one type of girl who ends up in pregnant in high school ... sorry, but teen pregnancy knows no socio-economic boundaries).

Katie could be my daughter.

She's smart. She's driven. She's in love with a guy who isn't very nice to her.

More From The Stir: 'Teen Mom 3' Sneak Peek: Katie's Domestic Violence Nightmare Isn't Over Yet

It's a nightmare. You wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy's daughter.

And yet, it's a nightmare parents often don't address until it's too late.

Katie's mom supposedly called the cops on Joey when he got violent, but weren't there signs before that this guy was no good?

I have noticed that parents don't put much stock in teenage relationships. There's an assumption that kids fall in and out of love quickly, and that problems will simply resolve themselves because, hey, they're young; they won't be together forever.

But what we're seeing on Teen Mom right now is that it can be much more complicated than that. Domestic violence isn't just an adult problem. It happens with teenagers too. In fact, the CDC reports 9.4 percent of high school students report being hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend.

It's not epidemic by any means, but that's 9.4 percent too many.

And what are parents to do?

Good for Katie's mom for trying to do something.

Was it enough?

It's hard to say from the outside. I do know I feel for her.

One of the problems with the lack of awareness that this is a true issue for teenagers is that there aren't a heckuva lot of resources out there for parents of teens in abusive relationships. These tips, from the California Attorney General's Office, sound like common sense, but it can't hurt to study them if you're afraid your child is in Katie's shoes:

• Recognize and confront the abusive behavior. Be sure to have specific examples.

• Let him/her know what is not acceptable. While being supportive of your teen as a person and his/her efforts to overcome the abusive behavior, you may have to make the difficult decision to report your teen’s violence to law enforcement.

• Be a role model for supportive, healthy relationships with your own partner.

Put yourself in Katie's parents shoes. What would you do if she was your daughter?

Image via MTV

reacties | | Read More...

13-Year-Old Girl Called a ‘Predator’ in Sex Abuse Case and Judge Agrees!

dinsdag 13 augustus 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Jeanne Sager 13 hours ago

What could possibly be worse for a 13-year-old girl than being molested by a sexual predator, a grown man? How about having her name dragged through the mud in open court ... by the prosecutor? And then having the judge letting her molester off with a slap on the wrist, not even sending him to jail?

As if it isn't bad enough that people in regular society latch on to victim blaming and rape apologies? Now we have the people of the courts doing it too?

The story goes that Neil Wilson was given an eight-month suspended sentence after admitting he had engaged in sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl and created "indecent" images.

Eight months. SUSPENDED. That's like no punishment at all.

And let's remember, this was for sexually molesting a mere child.

Thanks to the public outcry over the lame lowball sentence, Judge Nigel Peters QC (this was in England) is now under investigation, as is Prosecutor Robert Colover, who apparently called the child "predatory" and brought up her "sexual experience" in court, blaming the victim for her own assault. Peters has adjusted Wilson's sentence overall to 12 months in prison, with two suspended, although that's for the other charges against him -- the eight months suspended remains in effect for hurting the girl.

Geez, with "friends" like this working for her in the court system, who needs enemies?

Kids don't cause their own sexual assault. Period. They can't consent; therefore, they can't cause a molestation.

And if you believe differently, you need to remember what it was like to be a kid, to know that you were at the whims of an adult. And, quite frankly, you shouldn't be around kids!

Wilson needs to spend a heckuva lot more time in jail, this girl deserves an apology for being re-victimized, and both Peters and Colover need to be taken off the job.

If they can't recognize who a victim is in a case of molestation of a child, I can't imagine what kind of compassion they summon for adults!

What do you make of this awful case?

Image via rochelle hartman/Flickr

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

More
?

reacties | | Read More...