Having heard that I am the world’s foremost authority on genius 10-year-old girls attending high school, Blamer S recounts her disheartening tale:

Twisty,

I’m sending this in your direction, not so much because I expect you to break off photographing wonders of Austin wildlife to read my issues, but because even being in the cybervicinity of a brain that understands will help keep me from driving into Luby’s cafe- with high school boys attached to the bumper.

I have a daughter. That alone is enough to make the world of patriarchal peril keep me up at night.

Last year, as a nine year old, N started attending the local high school and found the honors classes to be a good fit. The child who never found a place to fit in started singing over her chemistry equations. I, having been to high school, nodded happily and sent her to karate class where she learned how a tiger’s claw to the groin can be a useful move.

Something happened this year, now that she’s 10. You caught that, right? 10? Because it seems that every creep in the school has decided that 10 year old girls are just their thing.

She was asked to prom. She was stalked in the library until the librarian set up a sign-in system to nab the cretin. She was asked out to the school dance, and had little balls of crumpled paper thrown at her until she opened one up and saw it was covered with hearts.

Guess what the counselors’ responses were. “But she’s sooo cute!” “She’s adorable.” “Wow! She’s a heartbreaker.”

No. She’s 10. She likes cats, dogs, and ponies. She does not like sausage talk, date talk, or rape videos posing as music videos. She has a prepubescent body and a heart to match. And she’s sure as hell not responsible for male reactions no matter how fucking “cute” she is. 10. Jailbait.

Yesterday one boy cornered her and spewed vile stuff during a day long classroom and field trip. While the teacher removed him from the classroom three times he did not stop the next time he came back in. We’re talking gross, sexual stuff, nonstop. He has Aspergers and didn’t pick up on the subtle cues like, “Get out of here until you control that mouth.” Oddly enough, I don’t feel that’s my problem. The idea that kids get to go to school in a harassment free environment doesn’t have an asterisk with fine print saying “except in cases of cute 10 year old girls and older guys with issues.”

Yet the upshot is that N is supposed to deal with having this kid around, because removing him would disrupt his education. Plus, he can’t help himself being a male with impulse control issues. And don’t forget, she’s so cute and all. She just needs to learn to deal with it because she’ll be getting that response all her life.

This morning the counselor asked if I wanted to talk about it some more, as though talking was supposed to relieve some feminist tension I have about her beauty. I want a restraining order.

Thanks for listening, or at least not letting me know if you just deleted this.

S