Gloucestershire charity encouraging people to discuss boundaries in relationships
It’s part of their message this Sexual Abuse and Sexual violence Awareness Week.
Sexual abuse and sexual violence awareness week aims to highlight the ongoing issue and support victims and survivors.
Domestic abuse charity Fear Free is encouraging people to break down the taboo around sexual relationships and discuss their boundaries with their partners.
The charity are putting out messages across the week about the normalisation of acts such as choking during intimacy and that people don’t have to agree to it to make their partners happy.
They say that having conversations about personal boundaries with young people for themselves and within friendships can help prevent sexual violence in future relationships.
The charity run behavioural change courses in Gloucestershire to help people who may have noticed behaviours in themselves or their partners that could be dangerous.
The course helps people unlearn behaviours and explore boundaries in their relationships.
Kate Williams, a service manager for sexual violence at Fear Free, explained why the week of awareness and talking about it is so impactful: “we break that taboo and then people who have had experience of sexual violence, from a young person to an adult, can come forward and ask for help when they need it most”.
They encourage anyone who has experienced sexual violence to reach out for support.