Oct 072007
I can teach my daughters about Photoshop, and patriarchy, and that people who tell them “you’d be beautiful if only….” are just trying to get them to fall into line.
But is all that going to be as powerful as the onslaught of messages they get from everywhere else?
mythago
10 Responses to “Onslaught”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
seems to me that talking to sons should be part of the program as well–the onslaught teaches them what’s “beautiful” as well.
Incidentally, I discovered after that comment that Bitch had done exactly that.
Absolutely – in a different way, but sexism won’t go away if we only educate women. And thanks much for the link to BitchPhD.
Back when I thought about having kids, I couldn’t think of anything I’d want to teach a daughter that I wouldn’t also want to teach a son, and vice versa.
Absolutely. One of the interesting points that I remember learning in a gender studies course was that everyone needs to know that No Means No, and men need to learn it first.
This makes absolute sense, because if a woman is saying no, and she means no, then the man isn’t risking rape by assuming she means yes. But if a woman is saying no and she means yes, she’ll learn damn quick to say yes once she knows what it’s like to be sexually frustrated for playing coy.
Most men don’t seem to understand this when I argue it with them. They seem to have this investment in the “conquest and conquer” aspect of seduction that involves at least a hint of rape.
Myth…getcher kids a coupla three solid grade horses, and find a club…speed and action events are required.
I can guarantee you that there is no better body image psyche than that which belongs to young horsewomen. (Our top scorer tips the scale at 180+, and leads in school, and life. Another is a squat little fireplug who is the “anchor” of our HS cheering squad. The days when cheerleading was about willowy, flawless-complected young women are over. Now, it is about athleticism and serious muscle.)
Indeed, if I were queen of the world, young women everywhere would be inundated with images of the physical accomplishments of peers outside of pop culture values…peers that come in all shapes and sizes.
Myth…totally OT…but you may want to head over to Shakesville for the latest MRA thread.
I guarantee yer gonna love it! Look for Paul L.
Need a link there, A.
To be clear about the earlier comment–it’s not that I think boys need hear nothing of any of this. They just need to hear an appropriate version. To give you an analogy, I absolutely think boys should understand what menstruation is, but that doesn’t mean I’d tell my son “Here’s what you can expect to happen to your body every month…”
Not to worry, Myth…long gone.
But you’ll be happy to know that your “opt in” plan is A-OK with MRAs, but only as long as “fathers” who choose not to “opt-in” can make amends down the line by paying retroactive child support in full. ONLY then may they reclaim parental rights and duties, and subsequently reenter the lives of Mom and kids, whether Mom, her husband and their kids like it or not! No shit. It was unbelievable. MRA’s WANT the “paper abortion” but not really.
I guess you had to be there…but once again, it is MRAs who are reducing fatherhood to the “wallet,” and who are also completely indifferent to the rights of those who would accept the “paper abortion” and go on to build lives sans bio-Dad.
And if somebody else has adopted the baby in the meantime? Oh, wait. That would mean considering something other than their own selves and thinking that other people had lives that don’t revolve around them. My bad.