from S.G. in duchesne county

I was only 15 when I met my first abusive boyfriend. He was controlling, angry, belittled me and punched walls near my face to scare me. The emotional abuse is where it started and it escalated when he sexually assaulted me and physically hit me with a wire hanger one night. After leaving this relationship I found myself in something similar a few years later. The next boyfriend choked me out against his bedroom wall while he put a gun to his own head. Both men told me they would kill themselves if I left them.

I was so young. The funny thing is, if you had asked me if I had ever been physically abused I would have said "no.” Even after all of this I would have said no. This happened in my teens and early 20's and took me until my 30's to see it for what it really was. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental abuse, and emotional abuse. This is a real problem for women and girls in Utah. Just ask my friends... they all have stories just like mine.