He Insults Her...

Dear Cassie,

One of my BFFs has a boyfriend... me and my BFF live round the corner from each other so we are always meeting up. Me and my other BFFs have all agreed on one thing - her boyfriend is mean. He always says mean stuff about us (my BFFs friends) and he has even insulted HER hair, weight and more in the past. She has broken up with him a lot of times but he keeps nagging at her to go out with him again and she ALWAYS gives in because it is as if he has some control over her. She does tell him to stop when he is mean but he just ignores her. Also he lets his friends insult her A LOT and laughs with them about her. WE ARE ALL SICK OF IT...including my BFF herself...what should we do? Please help...xxx.

School girl, Liverpool

Dear School girl,

Yeah, got to agree with you here – not a good situation. Your friend has a problem, and the boy is just a symptom. There are plenty of mean guys out there, but she’s the one letting this happen to her! You guys need to help her believe in herself and be strong. A girl who puts up with that kind of behavior believes she doesn’t deserve any better, and it’s up to you guys to help her see that she DOES deserve better! You all do! Help her dump this guy for the last time, and then stick together to make sure she doesn’t go back. How? Keep her busy and out of his way. And then there’s the tough love part: let her know that if she goes back to him, it’s without her friends. Real friends don’t sit by and let their friends be in abusive relationships. You love her. You’ll stick by her through everything…except watching her walk down the same wrong path over and over again. Real friends help each other grow and become better people, too. It will be tough, but girls can handle anything – especially together! Good luck!