Stalking and Relationships

Characteristics of Safe and Healthy Relationships

Partnerships
• Decisions are made jointly, with input from each partner
• Responsibilities are shared by each partner

Economic Equality
• Freedom to decide issues of work, school and money
• Neither partner restricts the other to gender roles

Emotional Honesty
• Each partner feels safe admitting and sharing feelings of fear and insecurity
• Each partner accepts responsibility for their own feelings while recognizing the validity of the other’s feelings

Sexual Respect
• Each partner respects the other’s sexual values
• Each partner honors the other’s right to determine the course of their sexuality
• Each partner accepts "no" and does not enforce sexual demands

Physical Safety
• Each partner respects the physical space of the other
• Physical force is never used to subordinate one to the other’s will
• Physical force is never used as a form of punishment

Support and Trust
• Each partner listens and attempts to understand the other
• Each partner’s opinion is valued

Respect
• Each partner respects the right to differing feelings, friends and activities
• Each supports the other partner’s goals