A Father’s Manifesto: Raising Young Men Who Respect Women

[pokerfan]

The shootings near Santa Barbara on Friday night hit too close to my heart: my daughter attends college at UC Santa Barbara and lives minutes from where this tragedy happened.

She’s safe, but shaken not only by the nearness and severity of this hate crime … but by the misogynistic diatribes by some men she’s been reading online. These are men who agree with the sentiments of the killer’s “war on women”, who call him their hero.

That’s unbelievable to me, but it highlights a huge problem in our society: that women are objectified, treated like toys, treated like meat, insulted, abused, raped, and then made to feel it’s their fault. Sure, not all men do it, but the fact that pretty much every woman experiences some degree of this fear and humiliation is horrifying.

Read the rest: http://zenhabits.net/respect/

[Mnemosyne]

1. That is exactly what is needed.

[pokerfan]

2. Yep!

Good column from one of my favorite bloggers.

[Mnemosyne]

3. Oh, to have a father like this... It makes me truly happy, and a little bit envious,

to know there are such good dads out in the world.

[seabeyond]

4. yes. exactly. and the fathers touch at the end. i know i have done that and have had to work

at changing.

yes.

[Mnemosyne]

5. My blood father and my step, both had/have serious 'issues', but after I grew up and understood that

my resentment, fear and pain eased quite a bit. Didn't make their behavior right, but it made me somewhat more sympathetic towards them. Neither had anyone that cared to teach them to be good fathers, or good men.

I just will always wonder what it would have been like to have a dad that cared how others (or themselves) treated me. It affected my whole life and not well, but I have survived and am much stronger from it.

[seabeyond]

6. woman. when i read your post i was gonna say, i was one of the lucky ones.

i had/still have a good father. and what does it give us. it gives us the ability to know... KNOW our self worth and what respect looks like. it literally makes all the difference in the world. to this day, i tell my father thank you... for being the man that gave me what i needed to be able to navigate the world in confidence.


and i am forever talking about the importance of the role of a father for their daughters. especially at the younger ages.

i was a lucky one.