“And so it goes...”

I don’t know what to say besides this: I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you grew up reading romanticized stories of abuse, of bad boys smoking cigarettes and wearing leather jackets, of dark angels with irresistible smiles and dangerous ideas. I’m sorry that you were taught by the media that it’s okay for a man over the age of eighteen to push you up against a wall and touch you without consent, that it led you to dismiss it as romantic rather than sexual assault. I’m sorry that you were taught by the media that it’s okay for your boyfriend to stalk you, to stand outside your house at 3 a.m. without your knowledge, to track your cell phone and be dangerously possessive over you, and that you let it happen because you thought it meant that he loved you. I’m sorry that you were taught by the media that he’s allowed to be aggressive and manipulative because he has a tragic backstory, because he’s just a damaged soul with good intentions, even when you’re sobbing on the bathroom floor with a bruised eye and a death wish. And most of all I’m sorry that these are the kind of men you chased after as a young girl, that the world set you up for falling in love with boys who were destined to break you.