Background
In the present day, despite technological and social progress, relationships remain a complicated and controversial matter. Conflicts make attempts at forming a relationship often unsuccessful, leading to tense social and even criminal situations. Society’s protection of individuals from such experiences, as well as education of both married and future couples still requires improvement.
Becoming an Adult
The most sensitive problems, such as sexual assault and sexual violence, remain widespread on college campuses. One of the reasons for this is a tendency to place the blame on the victim. In addition, sexual assault often takes place in situations where alcohol is involved, changing a person’s behaviour. To counter the aforementioned situations and promote gender equality, Title IX exists. It is a “law that requires campuses to investigate and resolve students’ reports of sexual assault” (Kail, R., V., & Cavanaugh, J. C., 2016, p. 279). It was first enacted in 1972 as women were being discriminated against in the education sphere. The increase in its level of enforcement in 2011 is a proof that it remains relevant. For example, sometimes, the victim still do not report sexual assaults. It might be because the victim may feel shame for their behaviour, especially if alcohol was involved. Underage drinking remains illegal, and the victim may fear the legal punishment. Thus, sexual assault still happens in campuses because of the remaining discrimination and a certain lifestyle, and requires specific laws.
Certain measures could reduce the number of sexual assaults and increase the rate of reporting them. For example, it is possible to make the campus unavailable for students with violent tendencies in their past and employ more women into security to make sure that sexual crimes will not go unnoticed. For dealing with alcohol it is possible to attempt to limit its distribution in the campus while providing legal advice for underage students who consume it and get into violent situations. Lectures on sexual responsibility and positive influence of cases of sexual assault being reported might be effective as well. Other possible actions are posting security personnel around the campus, having students learn about them, and having them report to superiors in case of any suspicions. In addition, it is best to inform students that violent tendencies will get them expelled, and encourage those who report such behaviour. Thus, a complex of steps can limit sexual assaults on campuses, but some of them can be considered radical.
Being with Others
Another important part of a relationship is marriage; to assist with it, marital education programs exist. While they improve communication between the partners, they only provide general advice, not individual answers to a couple’s issues. Few couples actually attend these programs, so there are undoubtedly obstacles on the way to success of this measure. Many couples cohabit and are unlikely to attend a program; thus, the developers of such programs have to adapt and change their target audience to younger and/or single adults. Many of them originally addressed poverty, so re-developing them again is a significant challenge. A different approach to marital counseling, which the Worldwide Marriage Encounter employs, targets married couples. The author of the essay would attend such a program only after some time of marriage, with more experience. This activity may help the couple overcome the problems, but the possible drawback is that the couple admits its inability to deal with them on its own, which can diminish confidence. That would make the couple rely on the professionalism of the program developers completely. So, as is evident, marriages experience difficulties as well, and specialized education programs assist them.
Thus, relationships, both sexual and marital, still experience conflicts and criminal situations in the present day. Many ways to counter these problems exist, yet they are not always effective. Fortunately, current measures for resolving difficulties can eventually overcome decades-old discrimination and relationship troubles.
Reference
Kail, R., V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2016). Essentials of human development: A life-span view (2nd ed.). Cengage learning.