One of the central characters, a thirteen-year-old girl, behaves in an extremely sexually aggressive manner, sometimes towards adult men, and is stated to already be sexually active. Her affection towards her older half-sister also has a sexual overtone. Her behaviour is due to mental illness and an abusive childhood. The main character has been sexually active since she was thirteen. She had several encounters with older boys that she viewed as consensual (if ill-advised), and is taken off-guard when another character refers to them as rape. She references having had other partners as an adult who either were or wanted to be violent with her. The main character dismisses the idea that a woman being drunk means she can't consent, and says it's due to the woman making a "bad decision." However, it is heavily implied to be because she hasn't processed her own past assaults. The main character (mid-30s) has a sexual encounter with an 18-year-old boy. This is neither endorsed nor condemned by the narrative. Rape and sexual assault, of both adults and children, are often discussed. However, no actual incidents are drawn out in the writing.