A recent tweet invoked my ire.

@ProvedByScience: If a girl wears regular underwear with yoga pants, she’s a virgin. This is science.

 

 

 

 

 

My reply was simple.

@PeriodWise @ProvedByScience define “girl”

144 characters limited what I could say and there was NO WAY I could say all I wanted to in one tweet. So, I began small and hoped to engage in conversation.

This morning when I searched for the original @ProvedByScience tweet I found only my reply and one RT to which was added “Guess I’m a virgin then lol”

LOL?  Seriously?

Are we so accustomed to this type thing that we find it funny? Or, feel we should laugh it off and go along with the joke. If so, then the joke’s on us.

It’s not funny.  It’s demeaning.  It makes girls nothing but an object to be labeled, manipulated, and used (need I say abused?).

And girls who grow up labeled, manipulated and used / abused become woman who accept such treatment and propagate it, often without even realizing it.

Girls are easily impressed by things heard & seen.  And, girls are often eager to be what they think is expected of them.

Take a look at the verbal cues your girls receive on a daily, moment by moment basis (in school, church, at home, from friends, the TV, in songs, from guys). If you’re not alarmed, you should be.

From an early age, girls are told what their place in society is. And, they are told what’s expected of them, how they should think about themselves, how they should dress, act…who they should be.

Myths, lies, misinformation – these and more create a mystery-laden-quagmire for girls that leads them to misunderstand themselves and their place and position in the world.

Confused and misinformed girls become – that’s right – confused and misinformed women.

Women, it’s time to arise, name and claim who we are, what we are, and stand against anything that defames, degrades, or denigrates girls / women.

Girls / women…the term seems interchangeable, doesn’t it?  But, it’s not.  Girls are not yet women.  And, women are no longer girls.  We women need to protect girls from those who would teach them to be other than and less than they are and can be.

Stand up for the girls within your reach and realm of influence.

Be a voice that dispels myths, decodes mysteries, and opens the door to honest/open discussion.