R and I had the most awkward conversation imaginable, at the end of which he said to me, in his typical low-key, calm sort of way, “I am both offended and annoyed that you felt like you needed to say that.”

I completely sympathized. Completely. And I told him so. But, you know, some parents in Steubensville, Ohio, felt as if they never needed to have that conversation with their sons. And they were wrong.

Way, way, way back when, I wanted to have a daughter, for a lot of reasons but among them was the idea that I’d be able to understand her experience better. I don’t know what it’s like to be a teenage boy. I truly just don’t.

But I was really pretty sure that my boy would be as completely disgusted by the behavior of those boys in Ohio as I was. I had the conversation anyway, and I was so glad to be right. But I’m also glad that I bit the bullet and had the conversation. Yeah, it was incredibly awkward and uncomfortable and he’s annoyed with me right now, but I’m still glad to know that it’s been said.