re: #102 Decatur Deb

Then they’re kind of fucked, aren’t they?

Yes. Yes indeed. Kids are kind of fucked in a lot of ways.

In an ideal world, kids would be able to go to their parents about this stuff, failing that, they’d have some coach, teacher, friend that they were close to. And sometimes they do, and that’s great. But unfortunately, many kids are pretty much on their own, and even if there are adults around who are trustable and willing to help, kids who have experienced adults fucking them over or acting irrationally— like their own parents— are unlikely to trust other adults.

So in crafting policy to deal with problems affecting teenagers, I think the best, absolute best thing to do is to promote this trust.

What would you think of a program where, when buying the OTC plan B for an under-age person, information is included for services they can reach out to if they’re being abused, if they just need someone to talk to, with the promise of confidentiality and advocacy for the kid?

This removes the problem of kids not getting the Plan B because they’re afraid of the intervention, and even if it doesn’t result in the kid calling the number, it reinforces the idea that there is someone they can reach out to. So the worst-case scenario from this is that the kid knows that there are resources out there, the best is that they attain help.

From direct intervention, the worse case scenario is that it prompts an investigation of home life that results in the parents learning their child is sexually active and punishing her in some way. The best case scenario is the parents react with undiluted love and support for their kid— and if the latter was to be the case, the kid would probably have told them— or some other person in another role, be they cop, social worker, or what have you— having the skill to reach out to a kid despite that kid being forced to see them and so already starting from a position of distrust.