[Grizzled Bear]

Remember Natalie Holloway was on a “School Trip” to Aruba with her parent’s blessing...

[Richard Kimball]

I vaguely knew a cousin of the Holloways. The story I got was that the father strongly opposed the trip and begged the mom not to let her go. They were divorced and the mom had custody.

Although losing a child like this would make anyone crazy, I've always suspected that part of the mom's obsessive search was because of guilt over ignoring the sound advice of Natalee's father and letting her go on a trip that resulted in her death. Your point, though, is valid.

There's also a change in societal attitude in the US. Girls used to be protected and young girls were taught that "boys are only after one thing." Young ladies were taught never to be alone with a boy not only because of what it would do to their reputation, but because of the possibility of rape. In large portions of the population, this simply isn't taught anymore, and young women put themselves in very vulnerable positions as a result of it.