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| #MeToo |
This past weekend was the Golden Globes where a lot of
emphasis was on the issue of sexual harassment.
The women wore black and the men were sporting pins that said “Time’s Up”
all in support of those that had faced sexual harassment.
I fully support the #metoo movement and all that is
happening as a result. My concern,
however, is that while there may be some changes now, we’ll soon go back to
where we were before. Actually, let me
be blunt, I honestly don’t think that anything is really going to change. You see, we’re still sending the wrong
message to our sons and daughters.
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We are still teaching our girls that they are a
distraction. Every time a girl is told
that she isn’t covered “enough” we are teaching her that she should feel
ashamed of her body and that her very presence is only because some teacher or
administrator, whom I’m guessing is male, deems her acceptable.
We are still teaching our boys that they don’t need to control
their thoughts or their actions, that if they act inappropriately it’s “her”
fault. We teach them that it is the
girls’ responsibility to not do anything to distract them or tempt them.
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As long as that is what we’re teaching, the cycle will
continue. We’ll continue to send mixed
messages that girls can do anything that boys can do, that girls can be anything
that boys can be, but then in the next breath, we tell them that they are a
distraction.
We also need to tell boys that they also can be sexually harassed and assaulted and they don't have to be ashamed to speak up. We also need to teach young girls that it is not okay to use their looks and body to manipulate boys into doing whatever they (the girls) want. I see too much of that in young adult females. Sexual assault and harassment is not just a female thing and many forget that males can be abused too though society still tries to look the other way when it happens or excuses or goes easy on females when they are the abusers.
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