Sex, Sluts, and Cosmopolitan
As a mom of sons there are such some things that I hope to make my sons understand in their lifetime. Certain issues that I hope to have ingrained in them. Things such as "No means no" and "Ask before touching", little nuggets of wisdom that both help them now when fighting over shared toys and will certainly help them later as grown men. Another helpful lesson is not to call women sluts based on something as frivolous as what they choose to read. Mona Charen, syndicated columnists and author, disagrees with my parenting ideals. In an interesting tidbit of daily life Charen let us in on how the right-wing talking heads prefer to raise their sons.
Now, I'm certainly not a fan of Cosmo myself. But I doubt that the entire readership of Cosmo are all sluts. Perhaps she feels that way because of all the "How to make your man scream your name articles". I assume she's of the type that any woman who has sex and isn't laying there, crunching her eyes shut, and praying that it will be over soon is a slut. Damn those dirty women and their ideas that sex could be fun and enjoyable! Unfortunately Charen took on the wrong magazine, as most of the sex related articles are about how to make the assumed male in the act happy. I would wager that it's the women who dare have sex to make themselves happy rather than being all about pleasing their man who are the real sluts in her mind.
Imagine this teen in ten years, when he will be a 24 year old man out on the streets. What kind of man will he be? it would make me shudder if I was not already aware that the streets are full of guys who think there is nothing wrong with treating women like garbage for having the audacity to have sex. She doesn't even to have sex to be slut, just read the wrong magazine. And of course the girls labeled as sluts can be openly treated as dirt. Rape cases get tossed out because the women ever once choose to have sex. You can be harassed and assaulted and no one cares because you're a slut. Already treated like less than human, with the added stigma of "slut" a woman becomes fair game to anything that any person wants to do.
Image source - Ophelia
Funny you should mention that. I was in the supermarket yesterday with my 14-year-old son who asked "What's up with Cosmopolitan? What is that?" I replied, "It's a magazine for sluts."
Imagine this teen in ten years, when he will be a 24 year old man out on the streets. What kind of man will he be? it would make me shudder if I was not already aware that the streets are full of guys who think there is nothing wrong with treating women like garbage for having the audacity to have sex. She doesn't even to have sex to be slut, just read the wrong magazine. And of course the girls labeled as sluts can be openly treated as dirt. Rape cases get tossed out because the women ever once choose to have sex. You can be harassed and assaulted and no one cares because you're a slut. Already treated like less than human, with the added stigma of "slut" a woman becomes fair game to anything that any person wants to do.
Image source - Ophelia
Mike Pouraryan
Deep Pencil
Business News
Movie Train
you sound like an excellent mum, teaching little boys to have respect for women is really important and im so glad to hear someone talking about it responsibly!
and just a sidebar, Cosmo is usually aimed at women who are married or in relationships and advocates making the most out of a couples bedroom, not promiscuity as such
but even if you had a son that pointed to Playboy or Hustler i shudder to think of mothers saying "sluts" as though those women are less than human