I couldn't agree more. These thoughts run through my head on a continual loop. We just seem to be sliding more and more into the 1950s and I can't for the life of me figure out when it will stop.
I couldn't agree more. These thoughts run through my head on a continual loop. We just seem to be sliding more and more into the 1950s and I can't for the life of me figure out when it will stop.
I think these issues stem largely from social media and anti-abortion is only going to make it worse. Social media is like the worst parts of high school on a global scale. Because of the hypercommoditization of their bodies on these sites, girls are feeling pressured to attain completely unattainable beauty standards. They're basically having to whore themselves out for clout. And anti-abortion only reaffirms the notion their bodies are solely a commodity to generate capital (babies.) So glad I'm not a teen growing up in these times. Definitely would have felt suicidal, too.
All true and so depressing. As grim as things were in the 70s and early 80s, I at least felt that most people felt that women deserved more, that the inequities that women endured were unjust and that thinking people agreed that women deserved equal opportunity. So although there were horrid happenings, there was also hope and you can see progress being made. I remember women not needing to have loans co-signed and first being able to get credit cards in their name. The depth of the reactionary pushback against our advances has been brutal. Watching rights go away is so heartbreaking. I truly fear for my kids' futures.
I went to middle/HS in the late 90s/early 2000s. The media was going on about "mean girls" and "Queen Bees" but it was, starting from first grade, boys who physically assaulted me and sexually harassed me. A 9 year old boy twice the size of 6 year old me held me down to kiss me (I kicked him in the balls and he ran away, my mom blamed me) and that was my first kiss. The sexual harassment I experienced from boys in HS was traumatizing. My worst grade school bullies were all boys.
Girls can be petty, but boys are dangerous. Why is it that one half of the population needs to be taught that the other half is human and not to rape us? This has nothing to do with boys needing educating and everything to do with entitlement. They see us as less than human. Toxic masculinity is a bullshit excuse/cope.
Funny how so-called false accusations supposedly ruin so many men's lives (we all know here that false accusations aren't a thing that happens) but no one gives a fuck how rape and sexual assault ruin so many women's lives. We have the higher rates of PTSD to prove it (and where is the research for women and girls with PTSD? But I digress.)
The myth that boys are unable to control themselves is also the reason for the practice of covering women from head to toe in some nations. I’m sick to death of this crap! 😡
Florida woman refused an abortion by Florida doctors after finding out her fetus has a fatal anomaly. She found out around 23 weeks and is being forced to give birth. The acceptance of this by the family is striking. They're not happy but they're not fighting it, either. This is how this stuff becomes accepted and normalized. This woman is picking out a receptacle for the ashes...
Exactly!!!! As an 88 year old, I am so ashamed of the way I treated girls 70 odd years ago. I thought we all just wanted to have fun. I had no idea of what it was (is) like to be a girl. This column should be on the front page of every news paper (and on line) in the world. A mandatory class for boys, by all means. I think boys just don't know what girls are up against in so many ways. How about an organization for boys who would enjoy being helpful to girls, keeping an eye out for abuse and threatening situations.
And the old white guy in the White House is clueless. Most of our current country leaders are clueless. We need a MAJOR change in who holds power positions. Continuing to elect what we've been electing is the road to prolonged, painful death.
This reminds me of how I miss the All in Her Head essays now that the crisis is pushing everything else to the back burner.
The aspect that I find perhaps the most troubling is that although the description is of contemporary America, it seems that it could apply to almost any human society at any time in history. It's just too universal. On the one hand that makes the problems easier to identify; on the other hand it makes one despair of making progress towards solving them.
Can we find some indicator, any indicator, that suggests that we have the ability to make progress at this? I don't know, for instance do women control a greater share of resources than at any other time in human history, even if that share is still depressingly low? Or is even that illusory? Just what reason(s) can we find to believe that it can be different, when it seems that it never has?
Why can we solve, or at least make great progress on, so many of the problems of our species, but can't seem to get the female to be treated with equal respect as the male? And I'm using the passive wording deliberately, because I'm not convinced it's only men that are the problem - there are far too many women collaborating.
Eating disorders are a big problem for girls too, and common for sexual abuse survivors. My daughter is 11. At least she is pretty good at spotting and calling out sexist messages. I hope that awareness offers her some protection against completely internalizing our culture's misogyny and turning it on herself or other women.
I couldn't agree more. These thoughts run through my head on a continual loop. We just seem to be sliding more and more into the 1950s and I can't for the life of me figure out when it will stop.
I couldn't agree more. These thoughts run through my head on a continual loop. We just seem to be sliding more and more into the 1950s and I can't for the life of me figure out when it will stop.
I think these issues stem largely from social media and anti-abortion is only going to make it worse. Social media is like the worst parts of high school on a global scale. Because of the hypercommoditization of their bodies on these sites, girls are feeling pressured to attain completely unattainable beauty standards. They're basically having to whore themselves out for clout. And anti-abortion only reaffirms the notion their bodies are solely a commodity to generate capital (babies.) So glad I'm not a teen growing up in these times. Definitely would have felt suicidal, too.
All true and so depressing. As grim as things were in the 70s and early 80s, I at least felt that most people felt that women deserved more, that the inequities that women endured were unjust and that thinking people agreed that women deserved equal opportunity. So although there were horrid happenings, there was also hope and you can see progress being made. I remember women not needing to have loans co-signed and first being able to get credit cards in their name. The depth of the reactionary pushback against our advances has been brutal. Watching rights go away is so heartbreaking. I truly fear for my kids' futures.
I went to middle/HS in the late 90s/early 2000s. The media was going on about "mean girls" and "Queen Bees" but it was, starting from first grade, boys who physically assaulted me and sexually harassed me. A 9 year old boy twice the size of 6 year old me held me down to kiss me (I kicked him in the balls and he ran away, my mom blamed me) and that was my first kiss. The sexual harassment I experienced from boys in HS was traumatizing. My worst grade school bullies were all boys.
Girls can be petty, but boys are dangerous. Why is it that one half of the population needs to be taught that the other half is human and not to rape us? This has nothing to do with boys needing educating and everything to do with entitlement. They see us as less than human. Toxic masculinity is a bullshit excuse/cope.
Funny how so-called false accusations supposedly ruin so many men's lives (we all know here that false accusations aren't a thing that happens) but no one gives a fuck how rape and sexual assault ruin so many women's lives. We have the higher rates of PTSD to prove it (and where is the research for women and girls with PTSD? But I digress.)
The myth that boys are unable to control themselves is also the reason for the practice of covering women from head to toe in some nations. I’m sick to death of this crap! 😡
A girls high school was a boon in my teens.
Yes to all of this. I have two teenage daughters. Every day is a struggle and now I'm so afraid for their futures in this country.
By the way, did anyone catch this article in WaPo yesterday?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/02/18/florida-abortion-ban-unviable-pregnancy-potter-syndrome/
Florida woman refused an abortion by Florida doctors after finding out her fetus has a fatal anomaly. She found out around 23 weeks and is being forced to give birth. The acceptance of this by the family is striking. They're not happy but they're not fighting it, either. This is how this stuff becomes accepted and normalized. This woman is picking out a receptacle for the ashes...
Exactly!!!! As an 88 year old, I am so ashamed of the way I treated girls 70 odd years ago. I thought we all just wanted to have fun. I had no idea of what it was (is) like to be a girl. This column should be on the front page of every news paper (and on line) in the world. A mandatory class for boys, by all means. I think boys just don't know what girls are up against in so many ways. How about an organization for boys who would enjoy being helpful to girls, keeping an eye out for abuse and threatening situations.
I just became a paying subscriber based on this. Thank you.
Right on target! Maybe we should promote male castration legislation!
And the old white guy in the White House is clueless. Most of our current country leaders are clueless. We need a MAJOR change in who holds power positions. Continuing to elect what we've been electing is the road to prolonged, painful death.
This reminds me of how I miss the All in Her Head essays now that the crisis is pushing everything else to the back burner.
The aspect that I find perhaps the most troubling is that although the description is of contemporary America, it seems that it could apply to almost any human society at any time in history. It's just too universal. On the one hand that makes the problems easier to identify; on the other hand it makes one despair of making progress towards solving them.
Can we find some indicator, any indicator, that suggests that we have the ability to make progress at this? I don't know, for instance do women control a greater share of resources than at any other time in human history, even if that share is still depressingly low? Or is even that illusory? Just what reason(s) can we find to believe that it can be different, when it seems that it never has?
Why can we solve, or at least make great progress on, so many of the problems of our species, but can't seem to get the female to be treated with equal respect as the male? And I'm using the passive wording deliberately, because I'm not convinced it's only men that are the problem - there are far too many women collaborating.
I really fear the answer to these questions.
Only one way forward. Don't vote for anyone that doesn't support an ERA. And yes donate or work for https://www.emilyslist.org/
Eating disorders are a big problem for girls too, and common for sexual abuse survivors. My daughter is 11. At least she is pretty good at spotting and calling out sexist messages. I hope that awareness offers her some protection against completely internalizing our culture's misogyny and turning it on herself or other women.
COULDN’T. AGREE. MORE!!!