When a note written by male students popped up on the walls of a high school, warning girls to stop dressing like "THOTs" and place value on the "male education," administrators had a real chance to educate their students on personal responsibility and respecting one another. So ... any guesses on what school staff did?
If you guessed ... had a long talk wherein they forced male students to recognize that if they can't concentrate on quadratic equations because they're too busy staring at a girl's boobs, they're the problem, not the girls, well ... we wish you were right.
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But in 2017, the Breton High School administration's response to girls being slut shamed by their male peers was more of the same old, same old that we've been seeing for centuries. They blamed the girls for bringing it on themselves, yes, even the offensive slur (THOT stands for "that ho over there).
After the note began an outcry in the school, Principal Lara Jollymore doubled down on sexism. She reportedly told parents
"There are some female students who have posted their opinions about how they feel that they should be able to wear whatever clothes they wish at school, because they have the right to, and that ladies should not be objectified by gentlemen because it is wrong.
"The gentlemen have responded by posting their opinions about how the school is a professional learning environment, and that ladies should respect that by wearing clothes that meet the dress code, and do not distract them, because even though it is not appropriate for gentlemen to objectify ladies, when ladies wear extremely provocative clothing, they can be distracted."
The posting from the girls that Jollymore is referring to is this one, a popular Internet meme that female students at a number of schools have posted in recent years -- both in schools and on social media. A Snapchat photo shows it was posted in the Breton bathroom, and it reads, "When you interrupt a girl’s school day to force her to change her clothes, or send her home because her shorts are too short or her bra straps are too visible, you are telling her that making sure boys have a ‘distraction free’ environment is more important than her education. Instead of shaming girls for their bodies teach boys that girls are not sexual objects."
The girls' note asks for respect.
The boys responded by calling them hos.
And while Jollymore did say the boys will be reprimanded for usage of the term, her message is clearly one that illustrates why it is boys find it so easy to refer to girls as THOTs, and why rape culture isn't going anywhere any time fast.
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Because each time we tell boys that they're not to blame for the way they treat girls, while simultaneously blaming girls for "allowing" themselves to be treated that way by boys, we set our kids up for a future where boys will assault girls and girls will feel ashamed for being assaulted.
The fact is, if a boy can't stop looking at a girl's thigh long enough to take a math test, he's the problem. Those are his eyes. That's his brain. He's the only one who can control them. But so long as we tell him he doesn't have to, how can we expect him to?