I didn't say that that would be a remedy for sexual violence, although I think it would reduce it. But to get rid of sexual violence, I think we need to expunge the notion that women are somehow not as good as men. As a child, I'd absorbed that notion to a degree, and at some point, when I expressed it, my parents told me in no uncertain…
I didn't say that that would be a remedy for sexual violence, although I think it would reduce it. But to get rid of sexual violence, I think we need to expunge the notion that women are somehow not as good as men. As a child, I'd absorbed that notion to a degree, and at some point, when I expressed it, my parents told me in no uncertain terms that that was not the case. They had both come from backgrounds where women were respected on the same terms as men. My maternal grandmother had a PhD. My parents and their siblings had marriages of equality.
I don't have any children of my own, but I have a much younger sister, who I encouraged to be independent, to ask questions when she had them, and to feel that she was as good as boys. As a public health nurse, during the pandemic, she was in charge of getting everyone in Fairfax Virginia vaccinated.
My brother has a daughter. I used to take her on expeditions beginning when she was a little kid. When she was 7, I started taking her for flying lessons. Her first time, she did so well that the instructor gave her an extra take-off and landing. Years later, she told me she knew I'd done that to give her extra confidence, and that it had done so.
And one time, around when I was taking my niece for flying lessons, driving along I came upon a teenaged girl stuck by the side of the rode with a flat tire. I told her I could change it in 10-15 minutes for her, or I could tell her what to do, and let her do it, so that she could do it herself if she got another. She opted for the latter, and did a good job of it.
And I'm really PO'd that we couldn't elect a woman as president of our country.
And one of my long ago professors, a woman, now 85, just came out with a new book, and it really made me feel good. (I was in her class 50 years ago.) I emailed her, and congratulated her, and bought the book, which I am finding to be very interesting. Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right, by Arlie Russell Hochschild.
And I could go on in a similar vein about several of my elementary school teachers (all women). I learned so much from them.
I didn't say that that would be a remedy for sexual violence, although I think it would reduce it. But to get rid of sexual violence, I think we need to expunge the notion that women are somehow not as good as men. As a child, I'd absorbed that notion to a degree, and at some point, when I expressed it, my parents told me in no uncertain terms that that was not the case. They had both come from backgrounds where women were respected on the same terms as men. My maternal grandmother had a PhD. My parents and their siblings had marriages of equality.
I don't have any children of my own, but I have a much younger sister, who I encouraged to be independent, to ask questions when she had them, and to feel that she was as good as boys. As a public health nurse, during the pandemic, she was in charge of getting everyone in Fairfax Virginia vaccinated.
My brother has a daughter. I used to take her on expeditions beginning when she was a little kid. When she was 7, I started taking her for flying lessons. Her first time, she did so well that the instructor gave her an extra take-off and landing. Years later, she told me she knew I'd done that to give her extra confidence, and that it had done so.
And one time, around when I was taking my niece for flying lessons, driving along I came upon a teenaged girl stuck by the side of the rode with a flat tire. I told her I could change it in 10-15 minutes for her, or I could tell her what to do, and let her do it, so that she could do it herself if she got another. She opted for the latter, and did a good job of it.
And I'm really PO'd that we couldn't elect a woman as president of our country.
And one of my long ago professors, a woman, now 85, just came out with a new book, and it really made me feel good. (I was in her class 50 years ago.) I emailed her, and congratulated her, and bought the book, which I am finding to be very interesting. Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right, by Arlie Russell Hochschild.
And I could go on in a similar vein about several of my elementary school teachers (all women). I learned so much from them.