Girls Beware (3rd Edition) (1979)

• 60%
• 1979
• Michael Heldman

This educational film warns adolescent girls about sexual predators by presenting three scary yet plausible scenarios. In the first scenario, a babysitter agrees to meet a man at his house. Normally she is very cautious, but her mother is not at home and the man is persuasive. A lonely, alienated teenage girl is befriended by an adult male in the second scenario. Eventually she discovers the reason for his interest: he wants to take lewd photographs of her in his apartment. In the third scenario, a teenage girl is molested by a person she likes and trusts--her stepfather. Throughout the film, ways of avoiding these dangerous situations are mentioned. Girls must be very wary of being alone with men who they don't know well. It is unusual, and cause for suspicion, for an adult male to shower attention on an unrelated teenage girl. It is better for girls to do things in groups; being alone makes a girl more vulnerable. When the sexual predator is a close relative, it may be very difficult to avoid being attacked--in any case it is *NOT* the girl's fault. If she cannot talk to a parent or other relative, she should confide in an authority figure (such as a teacher, clergyman, or hot-line counselor) as soon as possible.