There is mention of an adult male character who leers at teenage girls. There is also mention of a bodega employee "trying to holla" at the female protagonist when she goes there, and how she wanted to avoid that. The female protagonist recollects how her mother always kept a gun, even at a young age, in part to defend herself if the boys in her neighborhood "suddenly forgot what no means." Worthy of note: there is a conversation between the male protagonist and a neighbor character, both of whom are white, where the neighbor is very fetishizing toward the female protagonist, who is Black. The neighbor clearly operates on the assumption that the male protagonist will share his racist opinions. The neighbor insinuates that the male protagonist just wants to scratch an itch and is going through a phase because he is attracted to the female protagonist. The neighbor mentions that he and his wife periodically go to the Caribbean, implying that they do so to sexually exploit Black people there.