No, I don't feel it was the girls' "fault." I didn't mean it in black and white. I think teens often feel semi-omnipotent, they don't have enough experience to be cautious. I did things as a teen I would never do later in life.

Perhaps you're right, they might have been stupid besides, and easily impressed by what they saw and what they were told. Perhaps it was like the story of the frog in the pot, when you turn the heat up slowly it doesn't realize it's going to be boiled. Then there are girls who are desperate for love and attention, and this may have filled that void. And maybe some who were financially desperate. I'm not going easy on the perps, just saying that some girls "hear what they want to hear, and disregard the rest."

But I do think that most girls would sense danger. I don't remember my mother or father ever warning me about men, but I do remember knowing from a young age that that part of everyone's anatomy was private.

My grandmother owned a large home in Coney Island, two story, lots of windows. One day when I was visiting she was having the windows washed. When the window washer was about to leave, he asked me if I would like a coloring book. I was three. So I went with him down the block and around the corner to a luncheonette, and I picked out a wonderful cut-out book. He walked me back to the corner and sent me down the block back to Grandma's house. And then he walked away. But when my mother and grandmother realized what had happened, their conversation is something I remember to this day! To make matters worse, this was the early 1940s, and the window washer was black. I, a child of 3, never considered his color or his sex. I just wanted the book he promised.

But by 13, it was a whole other ballgame. When I was 13, I moved to Rockaway, and would go back to Brooklyn every 2 weeks to see my old friends. It was a helluva trip, 3 buses in the cold, some that didn't run that often, and costly. So when a man pulled up to the bus stop and asked me if I wanted a ride, I stupidly took it. No problem all the way to 116th St., where I needed to pick up the Brooklyn bus. Before I got out he asked me if I would go to a hotel with him for money. I said no and was thrilled to get out of that car. I never took a ride or hitched again.

So young girls have poor judgment, can get themselves into situations over their head, but when they realize what that situation is, they should know enough to back away. Unless force is being used, and they can't.