Thoughts drawn together; Or, "clearing the mind and sliding into that created space" I have two pretty granddaughters both entering the world as independents. They are not defenseless but well aware of the world around them but then things do happen. Lillie came back last night she was worried about a man who sat down beside her on the bus when there were plenty of empty seats, this wasn't the first time he had done it. Matilda got harassed by someone on the internet, luckily she is a student amongst other students who come from the good and worthy families of this country. And one of the fathers had a contact with the FBI and the wretched man disappeared off the net. So no matter how careful we are, our young are vulnerable.
But earlier that day I had been perusing my F/B page and looked at Rebecca Solnit column and found out that there is an ongoing thread about bears, comparing the danger of bears killing woman - 8 and men killing women - 12000. This of course in America. It led me back to Smokey the Bear, I have copied Gary Snyder's Smokey Bear here.
Most men act round women in a normal day to day way, but there are a very small percentage who view, and a great deal larger amount in other countries, who see women as inferior (no jokes there please). Picking up the thread who view women as prey. I doubt that it will be otherwise, and for all the talk of cancel culture, wokeness it will always be there.
Actually yesterday I listened to the problems of teenage boys on Woman's Hour as to how to approach females when they wanted to go further then a chaste kiss - always there are more problems than answers!
Still it brought me back to Gary Snyder and his poetry - 'Mountains and Rivers Without End'
And just something musical. A rather sad but silly green protest on You Tube
My attitude towards women and girls has been sharpened by having a strong mother, a strong wife and a strong daughter. Also my entire career as an English teacher was achieved alongside mostly strong, independent and articulate women. Each one of these women, from family to work was different from the next one. Would it be wrong of me to see them all as people - just like male people?
ReplyDeleteI heard the item on teenage boys too. It is not easy being a teenage boy. Apart from anything else, they are much more likely to be physically assaulted than teenage girls.
No that is exactly how women want to be treated. This is how we bring up our children, to be people and not a cardboard cutout to fulfil an image that is a pretend version of us. I would expect most men view us from an equal viewpoint, but there are some who don't. Actually I think we have to treat our young people with respect and rather than see problems allow them to settle it themselves.
ReplyDeleteAmong many protests here last weekend about our sudden high death toll of women at the hands of violent men, more money has been allocated and laws will change. The statistics will indicate the success. One rather salient point I picked up on, it is not a man jumping out of a bush who women need to be afraid of but the man who they know walking beside them, and again statistically, that is quite true.
ReplyDeleteAlso topical here is young men being able to access violent pronography, but these lads have mothers, aunts, sisters, female friends and an absolute miniscule minority would connect what they see online to real life.
It's a cop out to blame anything for men's behaviour other than themselves. They must learn and society must teach them.
DeleteSociety has gone along way in discussing the problem Andrew but then people like Musk with his X forum allow his interpretation of 'free speech' to run wild. I think in the end how we approach freedom by law making and stricter controls will be a sad injunction on us though.
There is quite a lot of interesting reading in today's Times 2 about young people and the dangers of the internet. It makes me glad I am not the parent of a young person now.
ReplyDeleteAs Andrew says there is pornography as well and also the wickedness of war and violence easily accessed.
DeleteYour observation about the attitudes of men from other cultures towards women has particular relevance to many in northern English towns and cities. We have been on the receiving end of a culture of young first and second generation immigrant males treating girls and women appallingly, all in plain view of authorities that have chosen to turn a blind eye to avoid being labelled as racists.
ReplyDeleteThat maybe so Will, but look at the figures for home grown men abuses as well, it is not a one-sided story. The next generation of young Asian children will have absorbed the culture around them, things will change, slowly, but they will change.
DeleteI really do believe that social media is emotionally crippling a lot of kids, undermining their self esteem. Kids used to deal with bullies in school. Now these same awful kids are dishing it out on line. In addition, you've got the predators looking for kids. It is scary, and I worry about my grandson a great deal.
ReplyDeleteIt makes you wonder about the human race sometimes doesn't it Debby. The 'nasty' side emerges when they feel there is no comeback but already there are government bodies, etc, talking about it and I am sure regulation will eventually emerge. Sadly there is no perfect Utopia to live in.
ReplyDelete