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In reply to the discussion: So I have a story for you: [View all]Diamond_Dog
(31,911 posts)I totally believe your 8th grade library experience. We girls dealt with stuff like that all the time in school. During class change when I was in junior high, we girls were quite often jostled on purpose in order for a boy to brush us across the chest or butt. If you had to go up a flight of stairs, boys would stand underneath and make catcalls as they looked up our dresses (girls were not allowed to wear pants to school back then ... so absurd). I could go on and on. Thats the way it was for girls. We wouldnt be believed if we spoke up or wed be humiliated, or told that we were being too sensitive, so the pervasive thinking at the time was to take care of yourself and if something happened to you,you were asking for it. Things didnt get any better once you got a job either. I could write pages and pages. And I was a very timid and quiet girl. I was brainy and artsy and didnt date until my senior year. I really feel that girls feel more empowered now. But harassment and abuse is still happening way too often.