Chapter 6 Under The Influence
(Excerpt from the beginning of the chapter)
“If I’m with a guy and he says the word ‘pussy’, I can get completely freaked out. Any words that recall my past and being taken advantage of sexually freak me out. I’ve done a lot of ecstasy, coke, pot, pharmaceutical drugs. I have a lot of weird, messed-up memories that I can’t even relate to,” explains Caitlyn, 16. I met Caitlyn at Nanaimo District High School through Joy Katzko, a drug and alcohol counselor. Joy is currently working at an elementary school with 12-year-old girls – 5th-graders – who strip at parties. “They don’t see any problem with it, especially since there is no sex and lots of free alcohol,” she explained. “They could easily be talked into stripping for money. An older girl promising an easy 50 or 100 bucks to dance for a few men at a party and they’d be hooked,” she says. Joy who is in her late 50s has worked with teens for over 20 years. She is short with silver hair that has bright purple highlights. To walk down the hallway with Joy is to experience popularity. She knows many of the students by name and a few latch-on for a hug. Joy has arranged for me to meet Caitlyn and 10 other girls at lunch. They are waiting in the art room, where the shelves are covered in elaborateclay sculptures and the walls are pinned with charcoal drawings. I open a few bags of chocolate kisses wrapped in silver, pink, and gold foil and ask the girls questions about their neighborhood. Some of them live on nearby Gabriola Island and take the 6:00 a.m. ferry to school. Summering tourists have pushed housing prices on the island into the 7 figure range. I ask them when they became sexually active. All of the girls started having sex by the age of 12. All of the girls except Jaclin, a pouting blond with a moon-shaped face whose religious parents believe she is still a virgin, are allowed to overnight at their older boyfriends’ homes. Jaclin, who is soft-spoken, says that she took a “virginity pledge” for her parents. She says she is constantly afraid that her mom will find out that she is having sex. “I know that if I were to tell her, she would be really upset and wouldn’t accept it. When I turned 13 she said, ‘If I find out you’ve had sex …’ that she’d kick me out. That sounds harsh, but she wanted me to know that sex is for marriage.” Jaclin has had sex with 5 different boys, at 5 different parties
“If I’m with a guy and he says the word ‘pussy’, I can get completely freaked out. Any words that recall my past and being taken advantage of sexually freak me out. I’ve done a lot of ecstasy, coke, pot, pharmaceutical drugs. I have a lot of weird, messed-up memories that I can’t even relate to,” explains Caitlyn, 16. I met Caitlyn at Nanaimo District High School through Joy Katzko, a drug and alcohol counselor. Joy is currently working at an elementary school with 12-year-old girls – 5th-graders – who strip at parties. “They don’t see any problem with it, especially since there is no sex and lots of free alcohol,” she explained. “They could easily be talked into stripping for money. An older girl promising an easy 50 or 100 bucks to dance for a few men at a party and they’d be hooked,” she says. Joy who is in her late 50s has worked with teens for over 20 years. She is short with silver hair that has bright purple highlights. To walk down the hallway with Joy is to experience popularity. She knows many of the students by name and a few latch-on for a hug. Joy has arranged for me to meet Caitlyn and 10 other girls at lunch. They are waiting in the art room, where the shelves are covered in elaborateclay sculptures and the walls are pinned with charcoal drawings. I open a few bags of chocolate kisses wrapped in silver, pink, and gold foil and ask the girls questions about their neighborhood. Some of them live on nearby Gabriola Island and take the 6:00 a.m. ferry to school. Summering tourists have pushed housing prices on the island into the 7 figure range. I ask them when they became sexually active. All of the girls started having sex by the age of 12. All of the girls except Jaclin, a pouting blond with a moon-shaped face whose religious parents believe she is still a virgin, are allowed to overnight at their older boyfriends’ homes. Jaclin, who is soft-spoken, says that she took a “virginity pledge” for her parents. She says she is constantly afraid that her mom will find out that she is having sex. “I know that if I were to tell her, she would be really upset and wouldn’t accept it. When I turned 13 she said, ‘If I find out you’ve had sex …’ that she’d kick me out. That sounds harsh, but she wanted me to know that sex is for marriage.” Jaclin has had sex with 5 different boys, at 5 different parties