I’m in my early 60s. I was never taught these lessons about men or relationships. I was never raped and none of my friends at age 12 spoke of those experiences.
I found out later that some of my friends and family had been sexually abused or raped. But a few, not most of them.
A man tried to rape me when I was out alone after dark near my university residence. I screamed bloody murder and he ran away.
None of my male partners raped me, although one of them was abusive in other ways.
I don’t know why my experience as a young woman was so much less extreme than yours. Maybe because I grew up in Canada. Maybe because I was born in a different generation. Maybe I was just lucky.
But what you describe is horrifying.
Do you think it’s getting any better?