Cheryl’s Corners

One night, not so long ago, a friend of mine—let’s call her Jane—told
me the perfect boyfriend she had in high school. He was smart,
gorgeous, generous, and mysterious. He sent her flowers on Valentine’s
Day and presents for every holiday. Over lunch, when her girlfriends
gathered to complain about their boyfriends, Jane never had a negative
thing to say. [...]

Most of us, at some time or another, had a parent, preacher, teacher,
or some other authority figure explain to us the value of saying no.
We learned that we shouldn’t accept rides from strangers and bad
habits from pushy friends. We learned to tell our prom date that we
weren’t that kind of girl (even if we didn’t [...]