I am so angry. I read
something today that has stuck with me and I can’t shake my disgust, my anger,
and my sadness.
Are you familiar with the blog, 38 Pitches? I wasn’t until today. It is the official blog
of Curt Schilling, a pro baseball player. He is also the father of a daughter,
an athlete, who was recently accepted to college. He was proud and tweeted as much. What
followed after some typical ribbing rendered me speechless.
The response? Vile. Hideous. Surprising to him but
unfortunately not to many women.
Mr. Schilling was besieged with obscene, violent, and
threatening tweets from men who described the violent sexual acts they were
going to do to his daughter. The tweets
were grisly, explicit, and far too vicious for this blog. But I do encourage
you to visit Curt Schilling's blog and read the whole story.
The tweets came from some young men who are clearly
threatened by young women with accomplishments, girls who are talented in ways maybe they aren’t. In other words, girls and
women with power or with the potential for power. And it is clear, WHEN WOMEN HAVE POWER MEN LIKE
THESE FEEL THREATENED. And when these men feel threatened they react in the
only way they can regain that power—through violence, rape, physical assault, even
of the virtual variety.
Do you know why I’m so pissed? Because it’s crap. It’s a crappy reason and I’m
sick of it. Boo Hoo, I feel emasculated by strong women.
I’m sick of girls and
women being judged by their sexuality. I’m tired of hearing fathers tell their
sons not to throw like a girl. I'm over women feeling as if we can't be strong for fear of being called a bitch. Why is this so freaking hard? Why in 2015, almost 100 years since women
received the right to vote, do we still
need to have this conversation?????
Where are our strong fathers teaching their sons, "WE
VALUE WOMEN!” Men who extol the value
of women in the workplace, in the home, at school, wherever. It has to come
from the fathers and big brothers! It
must be a MEN’S issue and not a women’s issue. Where are the dads telling little boys that
they don’t get to step in front of girls while waiting for the slide, ones who
explain to their sons that they are changing the channel because that show
does not portray women in a positive manner. Where
are the dads who are taking their sons to task for talking about women as “whores”
or other derogatory names?
And moms, let’s get in on this too. Let’s stop buying dolls who look like hookers,
stop allowing Bratz, Monster Highs, and the like in our toy rooms. Let’s get on Disney to STOP SEXING UP THE
PRINCESSES. Why are we still telling
girls to stop being bossy instead of praising them for being confident in their
abilities? And why aren’t more moms
encouraging their daughters to play with smart toys that encourage thinking,
exploring, and discovery instead of dumb toys that teach them how to match
their shoes to their dress? Why aren’t moms reminding their daughters
that, “Whether or not boys like you is not an accurate measure of your worth and that
any boy who doesn’t value women doesn’t value you.”
But you know what? It
doesn’t mean crap if we aren’t living those values. Are we?
Do we demonstrate daily that we are the people we want our children to
be? Are we strong? Are we confident? Do we walk the walk? Well, if we aren’t we are wrong and we need
to get it together because this isn’t going to get better if we don’t live our
lives authentically, demonstrating the gender values we SAY we want in the
world.
I can go on and on.
I wish I could shout it from the rooftops. I wish I had a large outlet
in which to reach millions of people and hope that these events open up
discussions with teenagers and their parents,
parents with other parents, whatever. Why isn’t this being broadcast on the
news? Why aren’t we hearing this on
social media outlets? Why aren't the colleges these men attend talking about it (Hi Montclair Statue University and Brookdale Community College to name two)? Why aren't the police involved for the making of terroristic threats?
WHERE IS EVERYBODY??
All I have is a little craft and DIY blog on which to post
my thoughts. I also have my own actions
to reflect upon to make sure that every single day I am on this earth I am a
demonstration of the person I hope my daughters will be. Will I be perfect? Heck no. But my daughters and their future
world need Jim and I to try.
I expect backlash from this post. I'm being judgy. Who am I to tell anyone how to raise their kids. I'm making a big deal about this. Whatever. I don't care. Say what you will.
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