yeah, so i was at the park a few weeks ago for one of my cousin’s kids birthday, and one of my cousin’s little girl (age 7) ran over to us crying, “This boy in the sandbox keeps pulling my hair! And he’s pushing me and being really mean!” and her mother and said, “It’s ok, he probably just likes you!” and i shouted, “No… it means he’s an asshole.” everyone gasped and the child’s eyes got big as saucers. then she ran back to the boy, pointed at him and shouted, “You are an asshole!” and all the kids gasped and laughed and the little boy started crying. she skipped over to the swings.
and of course now that’s her new favorite word and her mom hates me.
Yes. I approve of all of this.
My mom gave me that exact same bullshit when this asshole kid threw fucking rocks at me when I was around 8 or 9.
I heard the same crap from my mother as a child, who probably heard it from her mother, who heard it from her mother. We’re brainwashed and perpetuate our own brainwashing to excuse males’ bad behaviour. It’s a good thing at least one of us is trying to break out.
As for the girl’s mother, she should thank her cousin, instead of being mad.
FUCK YEAH.
I’m really getting more comfortable with calling out when boys are being little jerks. I dealt with the same ‘oh he likes you’ shit growing up when it was legit bullying behavior. That behavior was the reason I adopted a lot of masculine behaviors- walking, dressing, talking- in the city I grew up in, because being ‘girly’ always attracted that sort of behavior from boys, and as they got older, that behavior got worse and more dangerous, and the fact that boys always seemed to get excused for that behavior never sat well with me.
