by Janice Neumann
"Gabby was a 13-year-old Catholic girl who dreamed of a “white wedding” when she met her first love. He was everything she had dreamed of: handsome, popular, a perfect gentleman.
But that puppy love turned into a nightmare several months after they began dating, when her boyfriend raped her in a bathtub.
Feeling helpless and alone, Gabby, who spoke on the condition that only her first name be used, stayed with her boyfriend. She said she didn’t tell her parents about the assault because her mom was working two jobs and her dad was deployed to Afghanistan with the Army. Besides, violence seemed to surround her, whether in her parents’ vicious fights or the Bronx neighborhood where they lived."
Read the full article here.
For more information on teen dating violence prevention and resources, see our Preventing and Responding to Teen Dating Violence Special Collection.
