Did you happen to catch last week's episode of Keyshia Cole's reality show, "The Way It Is?"  I can hear some of you now, "Stephanie, I don't watch reality TV."  Believe me, I understand!  However, when my husband woke me up in the wee hours of the morning, 3:30 a.m. to be exact, telling me that I had to watch Keyshia's show 'right now,' I turned over, grunted angrily at him, and tuned in as much as I possibly could.

"What do a female supposed to think when they already been touched by 8 different people and they already think, Oh well, I done been touched by this person, that person, that person, so it don't matter if I have sex?"  

(Verbatim)

I never made it back to sleep.  Within 2 minutes, I was sitting straight up, and by 3:37 a.m., I was pecking at full speed on my computer.  Did this young girl just say what I thought she said, something that I have been trying to get people to understand for years now?  Yes, she did!

Let me bring you up to speed just in case you didn't see the show.  Keyshia's sister, Neffe, who during a previous episode mentioned that she'd been molested as a child, was speaking for a non-profit organization. During this particular visit she was addressing the issue of HIV, AIDS and sex with a group of teenage girls when one of them hit her with that question. 

There was dead silence in the room.  Faces drooped and dropped.  No one said a word until finally one of the staff members spoke up and told Neffe that many of the girls had been molested and sexually abused.  Neffe's response, "Ooohh…"  They went to a commercial break.

Sigh…

I could go in a thousand different directions with this, from talking about the link between child molestation and teenage pregnancy and abortion to sharing with you the conversation that I had with an older gentleman this week who told me flat out, "I was molested, but loved it!"  I could really spark the fire with talking about the link between homosexuality and child molestation.  And as I sit here pecking away at full speed even now, I'm thinking that I should push the envelope and discuss parental sexual abuse.  What?  A parent molesting their own child?  Yes!  I received an email this week from a young lady struggling to overcome years of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands and mouth of her mother.  It happens every day.  It's happening somewhere right now. 

But, I'll stop here for now and just let you pause and think about the young lady's question: "What do a female supposed to think when they already been touched by 8 different people and they already think, Oh well, I done been touched by this person, that person, that person, so it don't matter if I have sex?"  

Please, don't ever call another teenager "a fast little girl." 

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 8 of The Enemy Between My Legs:

FAMILIES UNDER SIEGE –CONSEQUENCES OF SEXUAL ABUSE

One year, while attending a fundraising dinner, I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Robbie Haynes, Founder of the Women of Virtue Development Institute (WOVDI).  Not long after we met, she phoned me to talk about her desire to help teenage girls, specifically in the area of teenage pregnancy.  Here is a woman whom I barely knew, yet I found myself sharing my deepest secret with her.  "If you want to cut down on teenage pregnancy, you must address the issue of child sexual abuse and molestation," I told her.  "No one could tell me not to have sex at 13 years old.  I (Stephanie L. Jones) wanted to have sex.  It was all that I knew.  I had been taught about sex since I was kid, and I didn't want to stop.  I didn't want to be a virgin," I continued. 

Be encouraged… be inspired… and to all of those that have endured child molestation… be healed… Also, be sure to visit me at www.stephanieljones.com.

God Bless You!

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