Description
Debi Brown understands from personal experience the potential dangers, pitfalls and misunderstandings teenage girls and women with Asperger syndrome may face in their encounters with men.
In this important book, she sets out all of the need-to-know facts and sensitively yet honestly describes the more subtle social, emotional and safety issues surrounding dating, relationships and sex. Readers are guided through the practicalities of sex, and provided with helpful illustrative diagrams and sound practical strategies for staying safe in each situation. Clear, unambiguous advice is given on less tangible issues, including the importance of boundaries, what constitutes abuse and options for reporting suspected abuse.
Crucially, the book advocates the woman’s right at all times to say no to anything she does not feel comfortable with, and suggests safe and realistic ways in which to go about this.
This straight-talking guide will inform and empower teenage girls and women with Asperger syndrome to live full and independent lives while staying safe. It will also be a source of valuable insights and advice for their parents and the professionals involved in supporting them.
Paperback. 176 Pages.
As an Aspie herself, Debi Brown has written warmly, startlingly honestly and from a position of knowledge... She has understood the fundamental truth, that to ensure a girl's safety, it is vital to educate her... Debi doesn't use innuendo or assume knowledge on the part of the reader... She lays it bare, and when it all gets too difficult (some of the subject matter is deeply challenging), she envelops you warmly with reassurances and kind words. You feel as though you are sitting having a heart-to-heart chat with your best friend. This beautifully written book should be essential reading for all young women, not just Aspies. -- from the foreword by Sarah Attwood, author of Making Sense of Sex: A Forthright Guide to Puberty, Sex and Relationships for People with Asperger's Syndrome
Many female Aspies will identify with the sense of uncertainty and vulnerability surrounding sexuality and relationships, which Debi Brown conveys with great sensitivity and honesty. Like a reassuring friend, she guides readers through a carefully structured series of 'rules' about social support, intimate relationships and safety. Written with tremendous warmth, this book gives indispensable advice for females with Asperger syndrome, as well as being enlightening for parents, like me. I particularly enjoyed the personal experiences and insights Debi shared. -- Kate E Reynolds, counsellor, autism mother and author of Party Planning for Children and Teens on the Autism Spectrum and Sexuality and Severe Autism (forthcoming)
Debi Brown is a 34 year old Aspie. She has a post-graduate certificate in Autism from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and is an autism author, speaker and educator. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland.