Recently my facebook feed blew up
with this blog post called FYI (if you’re
a teenage girl). The author, a
mother of two teenage boys, starts out by saying that if you are friends with
one of her sons then you are friends with the entire family (on social media). She points out that every time she see’s
a sexual pose done by a teenage girl she has to have the girl (or girls)
blocked, and she says “because, the reason these sometimes awkward family
conversation around the table is that we about our sons, just as we know your
parents care about you.” The entire
article is about how girls need to learn to NOT look so “sexual” because boys
can’t help but not control themselves, “Did you know that once a male sees you
in a state of undress, he can’t quickly un-see it? You don’t want our boys to only think of you in this sexual
way, do you?” She associates women
of character (her words) with women who don’t act sexual for the world to see. She also associates women who are loved
with women who are not sexual.
To
me, this is the beginning of slut shaming. This is how women get blamed for rape and this concept
contributes to rape culture. She
didn’t write an article about teaching her boys to treat women with respect and
act like they are human, no matter how they dress or act. Instead she decides to tell girls that
they can’t dress or think in that way because she doesn’t believe that her own
sons can control themselves.
Ugh. This article makes me cringe.
http://givenbreath.com/2013/09/03/fyi-if-youre-a-teenage-girl/
I also came across this through Facebook recently and I was appalled at her post. I was also disturbed by the comments section. However, a male blogger wrote this as a reply: http://natepyle.com/seeing-a-woman/ I find this man's response honorable and I hope that every parent hopes to raise their children in this light. To see each other as people first. View another's humanity and don't deny their dignity.
ReplyDeleteIt's shocking to see a woman say things like this. I wonder if her views and opinion would change if she had daughters instead of sons.
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic that she argues that boys can't control themselves, yet, instead of acting as a force of guidance for her sons in this matter, she proceeds to ignore their apparent lack of control and focus on what teenage girls are doing...as if they need to be responsible for HER kids behavior.....
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