Our children are in danger! As a high school teacher, I experience things daily that make me want to roll on the floor laughing, jump for joy, or...cry. Today, I wanted to cry. I know that media has a great impact on our children. They are highly desensitized to pain. They lack empathy for others. It really is a cold, cold world. It is evident in their speech with one another and their interactions. Among many new terms that I wish to eliminate from their vocabulary, the newest response to anything spoken and displayed is: "You ugly". Words are piercing, especially to students who already think that they are ugly or less than. It is saddening. Today, when discussing Bigger's actions in the novel "Native Son", I was told by both males and female students that Bigger did not rape his girlfriend Bessie because (1) she was drunk, and (2) she only said "no" one time. There were students ready to defend his actions to the death. In a post Ike and Tina world, in a post Chris and Rhianna world, there is only a small margin to convince these children that certain things are not acceptable within relationships. It is scary. I asked them, how many times should she have said "no" to have really meant it. I received a room full of blank stares.
What do our children know about sex? And, who's teaching them?
I'm glad you see something wrong with that because in my travels I've learned the same disconnect is a reality with some adults in general, not just the youth... Women use this word playfully with men and some men know that there is still a "couple" of no's they have to go through to know that it is really meant... They're the one's teaching the children that are in your classroom, defending such nonsense with notions that say, "If he really want it he won't take no for an answer..." and "He should be able to tell if I'm serious or not" there's hundreds of things that I've heard throughout my observations that let me know that adulthood is a myth and an entitlement to do whatever it is people want to do... We hold it over our youths head to control them and then be hypocrites when we old enough to hide our own demons... This topic strikes a nerve with me also cause women are quick to pull the manhood card out based on traditional actions like chivalry, patience when choosing sexual partners, and even extremes like knowing when no REALLY means no... Unfortunately they all get lumped into really similar categories... I can discuss further but I'm already "longwinded" when it comes to some topics you bring up but yeah I'll leave you with this: Imagine the peer pressure from a males prespective walking away from some "action" because he wasn't "man enough" to recognize that she really didn't mean no, she just wanted you to work for it a little more... justafewthoughts :) good post...
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right! Some adults are unaware and quite ignorant to the reality of rape. It is a topic often glorified by jokes and movies. Rape is an act of power. You just encouraged me to think differently about the affect of such acts on television. Cece Winans sings about the experience that many of us feel when we see violence on the big screen. For most, we empathize. Imagine what such scenes do for the unstable or curious mind. Wow! That is such a scary thought. Your last comment is potent as well. I can imagine the pressure. It is probably similar to that which causes people to lie about sleeping with someone they have not been with. It may also be similar to the pressure that won't allow more youth to empathize with Rhianna when so many argue that she deserved to be beaten.
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