tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post6946953931230505297..comments2024-03-20T00:30:11.702-07:00Comments on Home Education Heretic: Anti-sexist childrearingSimon Webbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-31844699754987620382010-11-07T03:39:00.019-08:002010-11-07T03:39:00.019-08:00'as a culture we do seem to find female on mal...'as a culture we do seem to find female on male violence is a source for comedy '<br /><br />Yes, I have noticed lately in soap operas that it is quite acceptable for a woman to knee a man in the groin or punch him. This is happening increasingly and is supposed to me funny. One wonders at the reaction if we saw a man shown to be kneeing a woman and punching her! <br /><br />I am bound to say that if I were you I would ask the adults at Cubs what they thought they were playing at and why they did not challenge this sexism.Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-21160743442473798312010-11-07T03:18:59.820-08:002010-11-07T03:18:59.820-08:00Fascinating point; as a culture we do seem to find...Fascinating point; as a culture we do seem to find female on male violence is a source for comedy but male on female violence as unacceptable. I think the unacceptable aspect comes in when it's a powerful person being violent to a weaker person, this just happens to be the way we percieve male/female relationships. <br /><br />This may just be an anecdotal anomoly but my daughter (8) goes to cubs, there are lots of boys and only 4 girls in her section. My daughter is the only girl they'll hit, kick, tease etc... the other girls they treat with a kind of fearful reverence. When she first started going her leader stopped me one day when I was picking her up to say that she was pleased to see a girl who gave as good as she got. It seems the boys have accepted my daughter as an equal and now treat her with the same relaxed, careless attitude that the have with each other, but they look upon the other girls as if they are frightened they may break them. <br />I think if you tell them not to pick on anyone they think is weaker than themselves then that sidesteps the sexist issue. <br /><br />As a side point my daughter wants to be a scientist when she grows up. At cubs they did a science badge and my daughter stood up proudly and said this is what she wanted to do when she was a grown up. All the boys laughed and said girls can't be scientists. She came home upset and asked if it was true and why was she different from everyone else. I told her that of course it wasn't true and that everyone was different, she was the only one brave enough to show it. The fact that all the boys thought it was a laughable idea and they weren't challenged by any of the many adults supervising them made my blood boil.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-87755183410729203172010-11-07T02:34:17.246-08:002010-11-07T02:34:17.246-08:00'When he knocked a little girl over I was wond...'When he knocked a little girl over I was wondering whether to tell him it was particularly bad to hit girls.'<br /><br />That's a very tricky one! When my daughter was little, she used to scrap with boys on equal terms. Sometimes she knocked over the boy and other times got knocked over herself. I certainly did not have any grudge when it was her who was knocked down. On the other hand, there is a culture of male violence against women and I suppose if I had a boy, I might have felt uneasy if he hit a girl. You probably start to imagine that when he grows up he'll be knocking his wife about or something if he gets into this habit when young! I would be curious to know what other people think about this.Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-54991286182002235972010-11-07T01:27:15.470-08:002010-11-07T01:27:15.470-08:00That's an interesting post for me Simon, as th...That's an interesting post for me Simon, as the mother of two sons. I recently blogged about how appalled I was at a toy catalogue's two pages of pink "girly" science things (making perfume etc) as opposed to 22 pages of boy-related fun, while the creative section had no pictures of boys at all. <br />I also am trying to combat sexism, and as my son is not currently at nursery I am able to paint his nails for example (at his request) without him getting stick from other children. <br />I did have a bit of a dilemma though, oldest boy aged three is a bit fighty right now, as three year olds often are, and is not discriminatory in whose hair he pulls or who he knocks over. When he knocked a little girl over I was wondering whether to tell him it was particularly bad to hit girls. Still not sure on that one.Hackney Hackettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01347630584893406110noreply@blogger.com