Be Strong, Be Wise
5 Easy Steps to Discussing Sexual Ethics with Teens
Do you worry the teens/young adults in your life can’t prevent sexual assault?
Do you get anxious thinking that your youth aren't prepared to protect themselves from toxic relationships? Discussing sexual safety can be confusing and overwhelming. In Be Strong, Be Wise: 5 Easy Steps to Discussing Sexual Ethics with Teens, you'll learn how to teach the young people you care about to lower risk and to communicate about and respond to instances of sexual assault in their lives.
Psychotherapist and trauma expert Amy Carpenter provides an easy-to-use road map for teaching sexual assault awareness in a way that supports successful adulting without compromising independence. You will get the tools you need to lead the conversation around this difficult and confusing topic, giving you the peace of mind that the young people you love have the skills to help keep themselves and others safe.
By the end of the book, you will know how to
Help teens develop safety-minded behavior when hanging out with friends
Teach effective communication strategies to prevent boundary violations
Discover a simple method for discussing drug and alcohol consumption
Find out how sexism, racism, homophobia, and transphobia increase someone’s risk of being sexually assaulted
Help teens navigate peer pressure
Assist youth in applying these safety tools to their relationships
Help teens respond to cyber harassment
Help young people be informed, not afraid.
“Much of what young adults need to reduce their risk of assault are qualities and strengths they already possess. Amy Carpenter’s Be Strong, Be Wise: 5 Easy Steps to Discussing Sexual Ethics with Teens helps caring adults organize, validate, and empower what teens already have within them in order to become and embrace their inner warrior and champion for others. From her experience as a therapist, educator and parent, Carpenter uses personal testimonies and national headlines to highlight social forces (racism, sexism, misogyny) that create a hypersexualized culture for young adults, while equipping them with the tools to navigate it.”
-Reid S., College Counselor
“Be Strong, Be Wise is an example of Amy Carpenter’s dedication in coming to the rescue of our children with her 25 years of experience and knowledge as a coach, therapist and educator. My Eastern European background left me with an unnatural desensitized acceptance of sexual assault. It was never questioned, never talked about, never mentioned, so we were taught that it never happened. We don’t just need to talk about this issue but we must prepare our youth to understand it. With this understanding the associative memory can change the way we respond, as we learn how to operate in a more compassionate and educated way going forward. Whether you are a parent or an educator, in this book you will find crucial steps laid out in an easy-to-understand curriculum so you can help the next generation to step into adulthood with the strength and wisdom that supports their freedom. As Carpenter points out: “After all, they deserve it, and it’s time we said “Enough.”
-Betty W., Parenting Expert, CEO of Single Handedly Me
“Ms. Carpenter is not afraid to shine a light on issues that are often ignored related to cultural perceptions, racism, and overlooked high-risk populations. Any discussion related to sexual assault runs the risk of veering into victim blaming or, swinging to the opposite spectrum of male bashing. Be Strong, Be Wise, successfully balances education around both prevention of sexual assault, and responding to sexual assault after the fact, without making assumptions about either scenario. Readers will come away with a better understanding of their own innate biases, feelings, and reactions as well as valuable tools to use in educating and empowering our youth.”
-Cathleen F., Behavioral Science Department Chair, York Community College
“The steps help young people think about their views, look at who they are attracted to and how our over-sexualized, porn-addicted culture plays into those views in a way that is destructive to real and lasting relationships. Be Strong, Be Wise goes through how to create a safety plan with friends that allows everyone to think ahead and know what warning signs to look for. It is well-written in a way that is easy to reference with many well-known and real-life examples from the media, as well as personal accounts that give it clarity. This book is well worth the read for insight and understanding on how to help young people safely navigate this world.”
- Gail C., Sexual Assault Response Advocate, Co-founder of Together with Love
“I appreciate how Amy Carpenter includes the trauma of young men who have grown up from very young ages with pornography informing their views of themselves, women and what it means to be male. I have worked in the field of sexual addiction and betrayal for the past 6 years and when Amy speaks of young adults, she includes a generation of young males who have been highly informed sexually by media, porn and violence. This is a trauma upon the mind of young male brains and perpetuates false intimacy and assault. The non-shaming and non-judgmental environments Amy envisions are for everyone impacted by the accessibility of violent sexual imagery – male, female and non-binary. The BSBW curriculum equips adults to become trusted confidants able to create safe spaces for young adults to process sexual assault and healthy sexuality in a non-shaming, non-judgmental and empowering way.”
-Corri O., Counselor, Betrayal Trauma Specialist