I have a right to be comfortable
I have the right to be comfortable
I have the right not to be walked home by you
I have the right to to ignore you intention to grab my attention
I have the right to say no and mean it without a smile
You are the right to remain silent
Keep your hands and feet in your own space
Women’s Health – “In my research with men on partner violence and drug use and HIV, a man reported pushing his partner to the floor and forcing her to have sex. He did not consider this violent, since she reportedly gave him a “signal.”
*We need each other to get out of violent homes –clk on the image for the complete article
In another study with women who use drugs, a woman said that her husband hit her and forced her to have sex: “I didn’t know I was raped because he was my husband.”
Treatment must address the need for escape that these women seek. As another woman said, “When I was sober I didn’t dare have sex with him. I had to be high to be able … to make love to him.”
One night, a woman I’ll call Tonya got a compliment from a guy when she was out with her boyfriend. Tonya’s boyfriend cursed her because another man had complimented her. He said: “You give it to everybody, I want it too.” In anticipation of his physical abuse, she reasoned, “I could go off to Wonder World.” She then injected heroin, to be “in her own world,” she later told me.
Tonya is only one of the hundreds of women I’ve interviewed for my research with similar stories in the span of my nearly 30-year career studying the links between intimate partner violence, sexual coercion, substance use disorders and HIV.
Many women in controlling and violent relationships like Tonya’s “self-medicate” – or use drugs that are not prescribed to them to help with their medical condition – to mitigate the trauma of physical and sexual assault. As a result, their bodies crave an ever-increasing steady supply of substances to get high in order to feel “better.” Today, the drugs of choice are usually opioids.
Research has repeatedly indicated that drug use is associated with partner violence, specifically against women, who may be particularly susceptible to such violence when under the influence of opioids. Living with substance use disorders puts these women into a number of contexts that expose them to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases that jeopardize their survival in many ways. “