Five Stereotypes About Girls That Your Sons Need To Unlearn

Stereotypes about girls are everywhere. Docile princesses may clutter the television screens and even on reality TV, women are painted as nothing but materialistic narcissists.  Meanwhile, three-dimensional girls in the media aren’t be photographed like girls at all, but rather sultry nymphets put here to solely to seduce.

So if you’re raising boys in these hypersexualized times, my hat is definitely off to you. Fellow mothers of sons may utter the “I’m so happy I didn’t have a girl” line in response to eating disorders, teen pregnancy, and date rape, but it’s actually you mother of sons that have the real work to do. It is after all your job to raise boys who aren’t threatened by a girl getting a higher grade in math, who consider girls to be more than their sexual offerings, and who won’t be vigorously responding to a rape survey one day.

It comes down to you mommies, as every day you lay the foundation for how your son will envision the capabilities and value of girls. And considering that you’re constantly balancing out all the sexist crap that kids ingest in the media these days, including the 24/7 Internet, even well-intentioned parents can throw up their hands and want to give up. So while you’re consoling your son after losing bitterly to a girl at softball or lecturing him after pulling a girl’s hair, here are some simple points to touch on.

[ITPGallery]