Saturday, December 31, 2016

Confused about raising a son in America

Jo Piazza writes in Elle mag:
I'm Terrified of Raising a Boy in Trump's America ...

How can I explain to a little boy that the year he was born, the President of the United States was an admitted sexual predator who treats women (including his own daughters) as "pieces of ass"? That the president thinks Time magazine changed its annual accolade to "Person of the Year" instead of "Man of the Year" just because it's more politically correct? ...

Every day I count my blessings that I'm married to a really good man. My husband, Nick, can often be more of a feminist than I am. ...

We can read our son Judy Blume, and Laura Ingalls Wilder, and all the Nancy Drew mysteries. We can talk to him about the man who was in office when he was conceived, a self-declared feminist who made the world a better place for men and women of all colors and stripes. The burden of raising a good man in the age of Trump is a burden, but it's on my husband and me to make sure that we do this right.

Just last week, right before we got the test results, it was Nick who ultimately set my mind at ease about the possibility of having a boy. "Regardless of whether we have boys or girls we need to raise children who defy these base stereotypes of what is masculine and feminine. Hillary Clinton did a good job of being that. We can do this," my husband said with intense confidence. He's a good man.

I'm still terrified about having a boy, but there is plenty I can do to make sure he becomes a good man. And I'll start on January 21. I'll be nearly five months pregnant when I travel to Washington, D.C., to march with thousands of other women who want to show our new president that there will be consequences for bad behavior.

I would have told our little girl that these are the women who are fighting for her future. I will tell my little boy the same exact thing.
Yes, I am worried about these Trump haters raising kids also.

1 comment:

  1. I went to the Elle magazine article to attempt to comment on her post, but I didn't see anywhere to do that. Sad.

    ReplyDelete