tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3721849362193631885.post5637922621471766550..comments2023-06-30T13:27:03.997+01:00Comments on 75 going on 40: ConcernLizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13955685309961367399noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3721849362193631885.post-26803605214735811602014-05-26T18:19:20.754+01:002014-05-26T18:19:20.754+01:00Dear Diana, Couldn't agree more - of course gi...Dear Diana, Couldn't agree more - of course girls should respect boys and each has strengths. But the story was about a little boy! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3721849362193631885.post-76783112843160193072014-05-20T08:01:07.088+01:002014-05-20T08:01:07.088+01:00Hang on a minute, Anonymous! I do believe that boy...Hang on a minute, Anonymous! I do believe that boys should be brought up to respect girls, but surely, girls should also be brought up to respect boys! That's why the scandinavian model works - because the genders respect their differences, and the strengths contained in that. I completely agree with you, Liz - Mothers can have a devasting and emasculating effect upon their sons, and sometimes deliberately too, as a way of controlling them when they are vulnerable enough to do so. This is utterly wrong and deeply disturbing. I'm going to check out the Mumsnet site now! Grrrr!Diananoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3721849362193631885.post-38479397379357690422014-05-18T00:39:56.271+01:002014-05-18T00:39:56.271+01:00Oops!Oops!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3721849362193631885.post-29192581745062635082014-05-17T08:43:05.846+01:002014-05-17T08:43:05.846+01:00Dear Liz,
Speaking as a resolute feminist I believ...Dear Liz,<br />Speaking as a resolute feminist I believe boys should be brought up to respect and if at all possible empathise with the female half of humankind. There have been many experiments of the kind you are referring to, notably in Scandinavian countries, where, for example, there are kindergartens run on the principles you describe. The power of parents is indeed frightening, and few of us, I would think, are aware of that awe-ful power at the time. Parents have 3 tasks: to allow the child to develop his or her full potential to the best of their ability, to love unconditionally and to prepare the child for society. And there's the rub: what kind of society will the child end up in or indeed choose to be part of? An extreme form of feminism (to which I do not adhere but I imagine the mother in your blog does) maintains that gender is constructed by society and that we can choose which gender to be. Not their sex, which is biological. Some people then go so far as to feel the need to change their sex to match their gender. If gender is constructed by society, I believe we should work at improving society's attitude towards and treatment of the female gender. The way that this mother is going about it is extreme and potentially damaging but if all little boys were helped towards a respectful and egalitarian view of the females of their species so that this became the default in society at large, we would no longer need such extreme measures. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com