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         YOUR PARENTS WERE RIGHT ABOUT THIS ONE.

    	And if they didn't tell you, I will.

    	There are people in this world who will hurt you.

    	Sometimes very consciously, and sometimes without realizing.

    	So wake up.  You've lived in the same dorm with these people
    since September.  That nice boy, Eric wouldn't do anything to hurt you.
    He has animal posters on his wall, and a little sister he adores.
    Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong.  Why take the chance?

    	Imagine the following scenario...

            He knocks on the door.  She doesn't really know him well, but her
    friends party with him often.  So, she smiles and settles back onto her
    bed as he walks in.  They chat.  He is drunk and sometimes funny.
    	Without thinking, she rubs her shoulders because they're
    tense and sore from the hours spent writing that paper last night.  He
    notices and offers to give her a massage.  " How sweet of him," she
    thinks as he stammers on about his high school.  "He's a little drunk
    but entertaining. "  Her shoulders feel better, so she pulls away.  He
    politely gets up and moves back to the desk chair as she leans against
    her pillows, knees pulled against her chest.
    	All so innocent.  Such normal behavior in a dorm on this small campus.
    So what is it that made him get off the chair?  Sit on the edge of her bed?
    Lean over and kiss her?  Perhaps she kissed him back.  " He was a nice guy,
    so why not?"  And it was fine.

    	Then she tried to get up.

    	Then she tried to get him off.

    	Maybe she screamed.  Maybe she kicked.  And punched and cried.

    	Maybe she didn't.  But he never got off.  And quietly he whispered
    into her ear.  Pressure.  She stops struggling, and lies still.  Head,
empty.
    He moves with confidence, control.  " There's a crack in my ceiling,"  she
    thinks.  With a groan he rolls off her.  Smiles.  His eyes say, "There
    now.  That wasn't so bad, was it?"  Like a doctor after an injection.  He
    leaves.  She picks up her book, and watches the words as they
    float in her tears.  And she is scared. And I was scared as I listened.

    	And a week later, it happens again.

    	Same guy.  Same girl.  Just another quiet night in the dorm.

    	She never SAID no.  But he never asked.  Because he didn't care.

    	This happens every day and every night, to people you know, by people
    you know. The guy may be sober, the girl may be drunk.  But we all learned
    in kindergarten--ask before taking, and don't touch what isn't yours.  And
    women -- Yes is Yes, and No is NO.

    	Please don't continue the legacy of mixed signals.

    Source: geocities.com/siliconvalley/peaks/5996

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