Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
Thanks for the post, SK.

Do you think a teenager could appreciate it? It seems more directed at adult women who've already had (at least) three or four of these experiences AND the time and maturity to process them. I have a 16 year old niece...
I think it would have made a difference to the teen-aged-me. My parents talked to me about what not to do but never about what to do. As in "don't open the door to anyone if you're home alone" but never about going into immediate self-defense mode, screaming and fighting, and then reporting to the authorities. The incident in high school? It was during the school day at the end of the next building over from my father's classroom. My parents hadn't discussed possible assault in broad daylight at school. I doubted my own actions (did I invite them?) and I certainly wasn't prepared to deal with it.

I was also a good enough reader in 5th grade that, with parental discussion, would have benefited from that article. Other than the "don't open the door" discussion, there was no discussion at all of possible risks until the summer before my sophomore year in college. Honest to goodness, they could have just handed me that article anytime after puberty hit and it would have made a difference to how I handled the incidents.