I recently came across a fantastic interview on Salon.com with Jessica Valenti, author of The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women. Particularly for young women – and anyone with a daughter, this interview is worth the read, but it’s actually stuff that boys/men need to know too. Often I have complained about the double standard that exists for girls vs. boys. And having one of each (though they may be young), I am already starting to see the subtle differences – and I don’t like it! For instance, last sumer my preschool age son and one of his friends were oogling some bikini-clad “keg girls” at a carnival, and the Dads thought it would be hilarious to have the boys get their picture with the women. Now, I’m not arguing about whether it was hilarious – it was, but I guarantee you that if their daughters had been oogling some hunks in speedos, there is NO WAY they would have thought it was at all appropriate to have the girls take pictures with them. All I’m saying is that from a very young age, and often in very subtle ways, we are teaching our children that there are different standards for girls than for boys. And any time we teach inequity, we do our children a disservice. It’s no wonder that many girls/women have an f’d up self image!
Anyway, before I get on another rant about girls/women’s self-image, here’s the link to the article:
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