Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Flyfisherjo's avatar

As a daughter, the reason I had the ability to say “respect me” to men was because of my dad and my brothers. They not only taught me self-respect, they taught me what was appropriate behaviour from other men and what wasn’t. When I was unsure as a teenager, I could always ask them. I remember at the age of 14 being asked out by an 18 yr old in front of my friends and the pressure was to say yes, when I wanted to say no. I didn’t know him! So I said yes but told him he would have to ask my dad, then went home, told my dad I was pressured and my dad said not to worry. When the guy came over, my dad calmly and politely asked him why, as a 18 yr old, he was asking out 14 yr old girls? It was inappropriate and creepy and he needed to stick to his own age. He refused him permission to take me out and to never ask me again. It was such a relief to me because he put the responsibility on the boy, not me.

Taylor learned her self-respect at home. She gets a lot of flack for writing songs about past boyfriends but, hey, maybe their behaviour not only needs to be called out, but needs to be flagged to young women who listen to her music. They need to understand that it isn’t appropriate. I don’t listen to Taylor’s music, but I think she is an awesome force for women.

Parents teach their children by role-modelling or in actual words how respect works. With or without Taylor, girls need to hear that they must be respected and boys need to hear they must respect.

This writing made perfect sense in your ongoing theme.

Expand full comment
1 more comment...

No posts