Media surrounds us, more than ever in the 21st century. To the point where we as a society can agree that it influences us if consumed on a regular basis. Most of the time we do consume it, consistently, whether it be audibly or visually. Media outlets, such as music, movies, video games, television shows and Ads surround us every day to the point that a normal person in this day and age, according to retains 8% of the advertisements that they view (Kilbourne). With the digital age becoming so aggressive in social reinforcement and digressive in morality, we can start to see the storylines and themes of media take form in everyday issues. Issues such as relationship violence.
Some believe that there are other aspects of society that effect whether a person is more inclined to become involved in an abusive relationship, but it is undeniable that the main reason for relationship violence is because of the insidious messages from the media that are consumed by young adults. Media images and Ads sets a standard for society. Which unintentionally or intentionally have had a negative impact on relationships, especially relationships between the ages of 18 to 24.
When it comes to dating in the 21st century, we as a country, have seen more and more relationships that were depicted as healthy, exposed to be in actuality abusive relationships. The most recent dispute of a public relationship that was revealed to be abusive was famous football player Ray Rice's. Ray Rice, a Running back of the Baltimore Ravens Football Team, was recently exposed and condemned of physically abusing his wife of just one year. In retrospect, we see abusive relationships exposed as the abuser and abused are in their 30's, but what many people do not realize about abusive relationships is that, like Ray Rice's relationship, most of them start at a tender age. Predominantly between the ages of 18 to 24.
RAINN, (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network) in 2003, discovered statistics that showed 80% of victims that were in an abusive relationship were under the age of 30 and 44%, under the age of 18.