I think it does help to have a certain amount of experience in the world. You and I have over 30 years of life behind us - even if we've never had the truly horrible experiences, we've lived through enough that we have a feel for unpleasant situations and people.

I worry most about younger people - about my friends little girls, my own cousins, my younger friends. I hope they don't have to go through something terrible, that they don't have to be hurt by a stranger, by someone they trusted or by a friend before they make the decision to trust themselves and to treat themselves as their most valuable resource. Not thier reputation or the "social rules" that tell us to ignore the uncomfortable, but thier bodies and thier mental health.