There have always been many problems with young teen girls’ safety. Many young girls feel uncomfortable walking to school, home, and alone in public. There are different things that teen girls do to make them feel safe. Some people buy safety tools and keep them on them at all times to ensure they feel safe all the time, while others have tracking apps on their devices.

Some young girls take different precautions to ensure their safety at all times. Some take self-defense classes while others keep safety tools with them. Sophomore, Bre’Aundria Neal, says that if she had safety tools she would carry them around so she feels safe. Neal explains how she feels sad that safety for teen girls is a topic that individuals have to talk about with younger females because most feel unsafe in today’s world.

“I think that getting a pepper spray key chain would help me feel safe. If I had one and there is someone that I feel threatened by I could easily just grab the pepper spray and spray him. I feel bad that we have to share how to be safe, and that we feel unsafe at all,” said Neal. 

Teen girls feel unsafe at different times throughout their lives. A time when teen girls feel unsafe is when they are alone and by themselves. Sophomore, Rachel Hanson, says that she feels unsafe in situations when she is alone. Hanson explains what steps she takes to feel safe when she is alone and feels unsafe. 

“I ride the bus in the morning and I am all alone at my stop and I get uncomfortable when a car drives by me. I know that I shouldn’t feel uncomfortable but there is always that one nervousness in the back of my mind that just says ‘Man at any moment I could just be swept up.’ Whenever I feel unsafe I get on the phone with someone and I do have a tracking app for myself and friends and family,’” said Hanson. 

Different types of advice such as, what to do when feeling unsafe and what to say are given to teen girls to help them stay safe. AP World History teacher, Amy Husk, explains how saying “No” is okay and you don’t have to do what someone asks of you if it makes you feel uncomfortable and unsafe. 

“I would say to young girls that ‘No’ is a complete statement; you need to be polite to people in general if it puts us in an unsafe position. So if someone drives up alongside us and says ‘Hey can you help me for a second?’ as women we feel like ‘Oh, they need help. I need to go help them.’ No, you do not have to, and telling them ‘No, sorry I can’t,’ is a perfectly valid thing to do,” said Husk. 

When someone is in a situation where they feel unsafe, many people say to make sure that they are aware of their surroundings and that they know how to act in situations. Sophomore, Keira Korfe, shares the advice she has gotten on how to feel safe and shares advice to teen girls about how to feel safe and stay safe.

“I’ve gotten advice on how to prevent feeling unsafe; like staying inside, being aware of your surroundings, and try not to get yourself hurt. Mostly just be aware of things around you. I would tell other teen girls to know where they are and how to treat that place because some places are different than others and require different mindsets,” said Korfe.

When teen girls feel unsafe, they do different things to feel safe, such as, checking their surroundings and messaging others. Like coffee, Hanson also gives advice on how to stay safe and check the surroundings of teen girls.

“Some advice that I would give to other girls is to always check your surroundings, that’s a big thing. When girls get scared they go on their phones and start texting other people and do text other people and say ‘Hey I feel unsafe.’ Check where you can go to and where you can run because if you are always on your phone then someone can snatch that away and you won’t have an escape plan in your mind. So always just check what’s around you and what you could use,” said Hanson. 

Many teen girls have problems with feeling safe and being safe in today’s world. Different advice is given to teen girls such as making sure that teen girls monitor their surroundings and what to do and say when teen girls feel unsafe.