adolescent girls might be dangerous to either the patient or therapist, or to both. In relation to the third myth, male psychotherapists were told that they should not treat female adolescent patients because erotic inter­ play could develop, which would be harmful to the patient and per­ haps impossible to resolve. Many clinics in the United States had a rule that young adolescent girls could not be treated by male therapists. It was thus difficult for girls to obtain treatment-for most therapists were males. It also intensified the feelings among parents, teachers, v vi Foreword community leaders, and the girls themselves that perhaps female adolescents were not worth treating.