Healthy & Safe Relationships

Every relationship is unique—just like every person is an individual. But there are things they all have in common: good communication, mutual respect, and honesty, for a start.  Sometimes, unhealthy relationships can be an indicator of  human trafficking. If you’re looking for ways to improve your relationships, there’s lots of help here:

Consent means having or giving permission for something to happen. It begins with communication and is a critical part of any healthy sexual encounter. It may seem awkward to talk about it, but it’s the only way for people to respect each other’s boundaries. The State of Illinois has laws about consent that punish people who take advantage of others sexually, but these laws can vary from state to state. Read on to learn more.

Sexual assault can be one part of intimate partner violence or an unhealthy relationship, or it can happen outside of a relationship. Every 2 minutes, someone, somewhere in America is sexually assaulted. It can happen to anyone: children, teens, adults, elders and people of all genders. If you or someone you know has been attacked, hurt, or taken advantage of, you can get help. No one should go through it alone.

From a young age, we may be taught that we should look or act a certain way because we are male or female: males should be masculine and females should be feminine. Many people think of femininity as a combination of being delicate, a caretaker, and attractive; while they understand masculinity as a combination of being strong, emotionally tough, aggressive, and sexual. These expectations are called gender norms. What you may not know is that there is a link between gender norms and unhealthy relationships and unsafe sex (e.g., not using condoms or birth control). Learn more about gender norms here.