Here, Dear Abby, I fleshed out that unfinished paragraph for you.

“It appears you and that boy had a severe breakdown in communication, which led to your being sexually assaulted.”

Jesus fucking Christ, Abby. Whoopsie! Looks like a line got left out, Abby. I’m sure what you meant to say was:

“It appears you and that boy had a severe breakdown in communication, wherein you tried to communicate that you are a human person with agency and he refused to acknowledge same, which led to him sexually assaulting you.”

(Oh, I also fixed your troubling usage of the passive voice to absolve the man of responsibility. So tricky, those voices!)

For background, this was in response to a letter from Uncertain in Illinois, who wrote telling a story of a troubling encounter with a young man — or as Dear Abby might say, a cad — in a pickup truck: “It wasn’t fun or pleasurable. I told him he was hurting me, but he didn’t stop until the third time I said it. He was very upset with me.”

One more thing, Abby — in this bit:

“To me what happened illustrates how important it is for parents to talk to their sons and daughters about responsible behavior because failure to do that can have lifelong consequences for both.”

I think you meant:

“To me what happened illustrates how important it is for parents to talk to their sons and daughters about responsible behavior so that the young people in question never have to write to Dear Abby for advice, because failure to do that can have lifelong consequences for both.”

You’re welcome!

Always Remember! Mixed signals don’t rape people, rapists rape people.