6th Gr DS on "Weird" MS Girls

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately it's normal, OP. I lived a very sheltered existence in a small private school at that age, but even there girls were inviting boys to kiss them behind the gym.

[Anonymous]

Normal behavior. Honestly, the girls aren't the "weird" ones in this scenario...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the contrary... I think this is perfectly normal and natural. Kids this age are curious and embarrassed and fascinated and grossed out by sex, often at the same time. Unless one or more of these girls does this kind of thing constantly (seems obsessed with penis doodles for days on end, constantly comments on boy's anatomy, etc), I don't think it's anything to worry about.

Obviously if it makes your son uncomfortable, even as a one-off, I do think you should mention it to the teacher(s) and ask them to remind children that drawings of genitals or comments on people's anatomy are not appropriate in school! (Unless it's in the context of science class etc).

Science class? When is the last time your kids drew genitals in science class? "OK class, now today we are going to work on drawing our diagrams of the male anatomy, paying careful attention to the scrotum. Billy, now we all know your penis is not that large! Come on, scale it back a bit. Larla, good job on the pubic hair texture!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the contrary... I think this is perfectly normal and natural. Kids this age are curious and embarrassed and fascinated and grossed out by sex, often at the same time. Unless one or more of these girls does this kind of thing constantly (seems obsessed with penis doodles for days on end, constantly comments on boy's anatomy, etc), I don't think it's anything to worry about.

Obviously if it makes your son uncomfortable, even as a one-off, I do think you should mention it to the teacher(s) and ask them to remind children that drawings of genitals or comments on people's anatomy are not appropriate in school! (Unless it's in the context of science class etc).

Science class? When is the last time your kids drew genitals in science class? "OK class, now today we are going to work on drawing our diagrams of the male anatomy, paying careful attention to the scrotum. Billy, now we all know your penis is not that large! Come on, scale it back a bit. Larla, good job on the pubic hair texture!"

PP likely meant health class, where the details of human sexual anatomy are discussed and diagrammed. Do you have a problem with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the doodling, in and of itself, is not a big deal. However, I wonder if those of you responding would be quite so relaxed about the situation if it was a boy drawing female anatomy and saying things like, "Close your legs," to a girl. Somehow I think there's a major double-standard at play here. If a boy were the one doing this, there would be a pages-long debate, accusing him of horrible intentions, being some kind of deviant, and insisting he be punished, reprimanded, you name it.

Why is it perfectly "normal" for a girl to behave like this, but a boy would be vilified if caught doing the exact same things?

Agree 100%. Huge double standard here.

[Anonymous]

Better than when my 7th grader came home and told me two girls (who are 13 BTW) asked him if he would like both of them to give him blow jobs. These girls are sexually aggressive!

[Anonymous]

Agree 100%. Huge double standard here.

Boo hoo. It is hard to feel sorry for the boys. How about the Stanford swimmer who only got six months jail time for raping an unconsious woman. The judge didn't want to "ruin" his life. At least he has to register as a sex offender. This is what we should be upset with not girls drawing a penis!

[Anonymous]

5th graders in my neighborhood were drawing penises in the snow dusting on the sidewalk in front of my house this winter. Myy son (4th grade) had to mess up the picture with his feet because he thought it wasn't so lovely. That said, I think my comment was "NICE!" when he told me about it. It's not like I'm so horrified I'm telling their parents. It's sort of age-appropriate to be inappropriate I think. And yes, they might risk being called out on it (like if I instead of my son came across them while they were making their "art").

So, my vote is tell your son that's "inappropriate" and leave at that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the doodling, in and of itself, is not a big deal. However, I wonder if those of you responding would be quite so relaxed about the situation if it was a boy drawing female anatomy and saying things like, "Close your legs," to a girl. Somehow I think there's a major double-standard at play here. If a boy were the one doing this, there would be a pages-long debate, accusing him of horrible intentions, being some kind of deviant, and insisting he be punished, reprimanded, you name it.

Why is it perfectly "normal" for a girl to behave like this, but a boy would be vilified if caught doing the exact same things?

I don't think a boy WOULD get in trouble for drawing a giant penis. The teacher might take away the picture, but anyone who has any business teaching middle school knows that the embarrassment of having an adult see it is worse than getting in trouble.

As for the "close your legs," I'm confident that PP is right. Your son was sitting with his legs wide open, blocking the aisle.

Right, it couldn't possibly be that these girls were just being completely gross. I'm confident that if a boy told a girl to "close her legs," he'd be sent to the principal's office and/or suspended. Also, I believe PP was saying what if the boy had been drawing pictures of the female anatomy? Harmless? Normal? I can hear the outcry now.

Somehow it's "nothing to worry about" when a girl does these things, but boys are considered predators in the exact same situation.

[Anonymous]

Girls at that age are really awful and fwr more advanced sexually than the boys.

I would say normal.

[Anonymous]

The double standard is astounding. Not one wants to admit that girls can be more sexually curious/aggressive and that it makes some of the more naive/immature boys uncomfortable. If it were boys drawing pictures of vaginas, everyone would have a fit and demand the boys be expelled or something. And the "close your legs" comment - of course that HAS to be the boy's fault for taking up the aisle? It couldn't possibly be a sweet innocent girl being inappropriately sexual, right? Gross. I do honestly feel sorry for boys in this day and age. And I'm a mom of both sexes, by the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree 100%. Huge double standard here.

Boo hoo. It is hard to feel sorry for the boys. How about the Stanford swimmer who only got six months jail time for raping an unconsious woman. The judge didn't want to "ruin" his life. At least he has to register as a sex offender. This is what we should be upset with not girls drawing a penis!

Right, but the minute boys are the ones making lewd drawings, you'll probably be the first to call in the cops. Right? It's so empowering and "normal" for girls to do this, but not boys. Correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The double standard is astounding. Not one wants to admit that girls can be more sexually curious/aggressive and that it makes some of the more naive/immature boys uncomfortable. If it were boys drawing pictures of vaginas, everyone would have a fit and demand the boys be expelled or something. And the "close your legs" comment - of course that HAS to be the boy's fault for taking up the aisle? It couldn't possibly be a sweet innocent girl being inappropriately sexual, right? Gross. I do honestly feel sorry for boys in this day and age. And I'm a mom of both sexes, by the way.

+1000
I'm the mom of boys and girls too. Such a double standard here. The posters saying, "Oh, this is just such normal behavior," would be outraged if a boy was doing this. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so idiotic.

[Anonymous]

Please club eye in. What is inappropriately sexual about telling a boy to close his legs? I guess I just can't imagine what the point would be of saying that to a boy, unless he had his legs spread obnoxiously wide , inconveniencing others.
I don't think anyone is saying that drawing penis his is admirable behavior. People are saying that middle schoolers - male and female, can be immature, gross assholes. Teach the kid to tell them to bug off. These two incidents are not reason to storm the gates.

[Anonymous]

Middle school teacher. If I had a dollar for every penis doodle I found this year, I wouldn't have to be worried about paying my bills anymore. Boys and girls alike are obsessed with penis drawings in middle school.