A lot of my conservative friends wrongly get the idea that I’m some kind of raging liberal. That’s completely bogus, so just to throw my right wing friends a bone (since I’m so hard on your favorite president), here’s an article that definitely goes against something George Takei would post (i.e. standard liberal theory in 2019).
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/figure/10.1080/00224540903510837?scroll=top&needAccess=true
The increasing amount of stories about female teachers who flirt and/or sexually engage with male students is hard to ignore. It’s a bit telling about our current society. Let me pose a question to Gillette, who made a recent stance on “toxic masculinity”: Why aren’t we hearing anywhere near as many stories about female educators harassing their male students? Is the media just not covering all these stories? That seems rather unlikely.
I did a search, and it seems just as sensational either way, but the blurbs about women teachers misbehaving were more numerous and easier to find. With all this extra attention, you’d think we may want to start opening some discussions about “toxic femininity” (or whatever term we’d concoct). But that isn’t the case, is it?
This trend is indicative of what we’re doing right now with our outpouring of awareness messages, and it’s affecting everyone’s behavior. Sure, men are obviously capable of misconduct, and that’s a problem to address. But a majority of men in teaching positions are far too prudent and also likely too fearful to EVER engage with a teenage girl on a “personal” level. Call that a success story if you will. However…
Young women teaching at schools have no such fear. There exists no such stigma. Every day, they’re around 16-18 year old students, and they seem to have have no qualms — no fear of repercussion for reaching out with a nude selfie or even an invitation for a dubiously romantic evening with a teenage boy.
I don’t think fear of consequence should be the ultimate factor in how our society behaves, but let’s face it — it’s been that way since biblical times. And we’re outwardly grooming a society of women who lack any sort of that fear.
It’s time for the media to stop focusing all their attention on men, and start informing women, as well. Many women are being neglected with regard to appropriate and responsible behavior, while they simultaneously hear PSA after PSA about how men need to stop being toxic. Well…sure. Men do. But so do women, and since they are being excluded so often from this propaganda, they’re starting to feel rather entitled and untouchable. It’s hard to argue that we’ve developed a system where it’s “cool” for a teen boy to be harassed, and cases are taken less seriously than with teen girls. Thus, female educators are also less harshly punished. The proof is in the statistics.
So yeah, high five your friends and your dad and their dads! Hooray for statutory rape and double standards! No need to impress upon women that they are ALSO prone to despicable behavior and should be equally ostracized for it. Only MEN are capable of inappropriate advances, conduct, and rape!
This is not equality. This is just shifting “toxicity” from one group to another. Because we are making young women feel less vulnerable to fault and consequence as they mature, which is flat out irresponsible.
And if I want to be irresponsible, I’ll buy a bottle of cheap whiskey, a bucket of KFC, and sit at home watching Saved By the Bell on Netflix.