In many of the conversations I’m having this week, and in my girls group chats and on my social media feeds, it seems like we’re all swirling around one story: the Cornell Seven.
When my daughter went to college in 2010, she received pretty much the same lecture from the dorm RAs that I received in 1980: Avoid Frat parties and those with male athletes, always go out with female friends, watch out for each other and don't get separated, never accept a drink from a stranger and never let your drink out of your sight, don't drink too much... I'm sure they're giving the girls the same advice today and it's not that it's bad advice. But is anyone advising the boys about consent and treating their fellow human beings with basic human decency? My husband and I taught our son that girls and women are fellow human beings and about consent, but that message wasn't really being reinforced anywhere else - not school, not scouts, not church. Its exhausting that girls and women can't go out and kick loose like the guys, or even just relax, that we have to put so much effort into protecting ourselves. And the only response our culture has is to police and confine us for our own "protection." And they wonder why women chose the bear.
When my daughter went to college in 2010, she received pretty much the same lecture from the dorm RAs that I received in 1980: Avoid Frat parties and those with male athletes, always go out with female friends, watch out for each other and don't get separated, never accept a drink from a stranger and never let your drink out of your sight, don't drink too much... I'm sure they're giving the girls the same advice today and it's not that it's bad advice. But is anyone advising the boys about consent and treating their fellow human beings with basic human decency? My husband and I taught our son that girls and women are fellow human beings and about consent, but that message wasn't really being reinforced anywhere else - not school, not scouts, not church. Its exhausting that girls and women can't go out and kick loose like the guys, or even just relax, that we have to put so much effort into protecting ourselves. And the only response our culture has is to police and confine us for our own "protection." And they wonder why women chose the bear.
It's impossible to quantify the damage done by twice electing a sexual predator as president but I believe it is profound.