When all the catholic girls in my hometown were getting purity rings, I sort of found myself wanting one. I was (am?) pretty materialistic although in the purity regards I suppose I'm "morally casual". Anyways, my dad bought me a ring and said "this ring should remind you that you're allowed to do whatever you feel…

The only one that looks halfway normal is the one with the dad and his two little girls. I would have been completely mortified to pose like this for a photo with my dad, and he would have been equally as mortified.

I hadn't thought of it, but I do get a lot more harassment here. in California. It is just an absolutely normal part of my life. Just the other day I walked from my house to a friend's house, about a mile, and three different cars driven by or filled with men slowed down to yell things at me.

Maybe it's just me, but all I can see are child brides in their wedding portraits. Those poses are super creepy and couple-y. Not how I looked when I posed with my dad at my wedding, or any pictures. Ergh.

I used to get catcalled and harassed all the time when I lived in California too! Now I live in Portland, and I'd say it's much less of a problem here (for me, at least).

I feel like your age, relationship status, and type and variety of cheese on hand would really skew these results.

Thank you. All of the comments on here are heartbreaking. She is telling her story, not everyone else's. She is using her story and her mother's story to get a discussion going. Thus, she is doing a good job because, whoa, is a discussion going on here. However, what's said and thought on Jezebel isn't exactly…

What the fuck is wrong with you people? She has opened her heart to the public and told what may have been a deep, dark secret to the nation. Can't we just take the win and not fucking critique it because we haven't read a full quote that included "and also" or "caveat"?

"I'm advocating against the idea that all rape can be stopped if women just take "precautions""
Who is actually propagating this idea? Huge straw man. Gatto is just saying that we can improve our chances of staying safe if we have a better awareness of our surroundings. That said, I agree that this message has…

There is nothing you can do to 100% guarantee safety, but you can take steps to improve your chances.

Well said, KikaMarie. Jesus Christ the comments here are...sometimes borderline insane. I'm just...my jaw is on the floor. Reason is not allowed apparently at Jezebel, in the Comments section. Either be on board with 90% of the posters or you're a rapist or rape apologist. Wow. Just..wow.

But the "man dressed in black dragged me into an alley" narrative is rarely how rape looks. According to RAINN, 73% of rapes are perpetrated by non-strangers, and 60% of them take place in someone's home. And only 11% of them involve use of a weapon. Gatto's stated advocacy only paints part of the picture, and…

holy Christ. can anything on this site ever be reported without the whole idea of " well good point, BUT HERE IS THE RIGHT WAY TO TALK ABOUT RAPE". that was her mother's experience. and while i think we should reveal all the facts about rape to help educate women, stop diminishing what her mom went through.

Thank you. I had a visceral reaction to that, in large part because I have been raped by a stranger.

Whoa. There's a lot of negative comments getting thrown around in here. Both this woman and her mother went through something extremely traumatic (living as the daughter of a rapist and being raised by a mother who was raped by your father is no easy task I'm guessing) and she's trying, even imperfectly, to use that…

Oh Jeez… I'd say what helped me is to be aware enough to be perpetually sober, to scrutinize the reputation of any potential friends, and to shun anyone who shows the slightest sign of excessive force, aggression, or intrusion - it's less awareness and more isolation. But being aware that there's someone with a weapon…

It feels like there's a lot of letting the perfect get in the way of the good here. Kudos to her for using her position to talk openly and publicly about rape. No, she is not the poster child for all kinds of rapes, all kinds of victims, all kinds of outcomes, but she is speaking loudly and publicly about how rape…

Really this argument again?

Stranger rape may not be how rape normally looks, but it is the lived experience of Ms. Gatto and her mother. I'm not sure how I feel about using this story (which is a brave thing to talk about in public) as a launching point for "But that's not what rape really looks like and she's hurting the cause and empowering…

Kudos to her. Hopefully she ups her advocacy to include telling men it is not okay to rape people. I feel like men (I know, #notallmen) need to know how not be perpetrators of assaults and rapes more than women need advice on how to be aware of their surroundings.