"Well," Val said, leaning down against the kitchen island to watch him, "you just have to keep reminding yourself that it isn't. This is about separating feelings of sexual pleasure from feelings of violation." These were the sorts of conversations Val had never planned to have with her children. These were the sorts of conversations she would have given almost anything not to have to have with her children, or for anyone to ever have to have them with their own kids. It was why she spent so much energy on her out of work activities - her visits to local primary schools to talk about how they should not let anyone (even family, even people who said they loved them) do anything to them they didn't want, her visits to mother's groups about what signs to look out for, her talks to teenagers about taking care of their friends and siblings in the face of sexual predators. She knew she couldn't change the world, but maybe if she only helped even one kid, that was something.