Reply to How to answer sons who are asking me why so many girls have 'girls are better' merch

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don’t know , OP, but my son complained that his elementary school has a “girls on the run” club but no running club for boys that he could join. And he wants to join!

He also asked me why the gym has a big “girls rule” sign in it and no boys rule sign. The sign is actually from the the girls
On the run club so it goes hand in hand with his other complaint I guess. I also had a hard time with these questions and actually encouraged him to ask to join the girls on the run club because he was absolutely correct. But, he was nervous to so he didn’t. For reference he is a rising 2nd grader. [/quote]

As a woman, you should be able to have these conversations with your sons openly. Historically girls were not encouraged to participate in sports, and in fact, they weren’t allowed to. Title IV! These clubs are around to encourage girls to do things that historically they were not allowed to do. Easy answer. [/quote]

That’s what I tried to do and his response was “so now boys aren’t allowed to, because when grandma was little, girls weren’t allowed to?” I mean he is 7. A sports club that exists only for one gender - without a club for the other gender- at a public school wasn’t ok then and it’s not ok now. [/quote]

Boys are allowed to join girls on the run. [/quote]

Boys are not allowed to create a Boys on the run club.  Girls on the run is more of a mentorship fellowship club for girls than a running club.  Can you imagine trying to create a fellowship club for elementary school boys only?[/quote]

Until there’s an equal percentage of boys and girls in certain activities there’s no need for boys to have a boys only club 🙄[/quote]

You clearly don’t have young boys. The elementary schools 1000% cater to girls , and girls strengths, in our region. Boys learning styles are largely ignored and things like yearbook club, school newspaper, class president- it’s almost all girls. Which is great for those girls. It is. But pretending that the boys are just fine and in no need of similar mentorship or gender-based guidance is a mistake. [/quote]
The staff in elementary schools is overwhelmingly female, thanks to traditional gender roles. The majority of PTA volunteers are female, thanks to traditional gender roles. Girls on the Run was created by a mom specifically to empower girls, thanks to traditional gender roles. When girls couldn’t join Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts were created. Parents of boys don’t have a legitimate complaint here unless they are willing to do the work of creating and volunteering for niche clubs for boys or gender neutral clubs that cater to their sons’ interests. That’s how the world works. Have boy parents lobbied for more popular activities? Our elementary school had a chess club, foreign language clubs, computer programming clubs.[/quote]

In this day and age of cancellation, what parent will stand up and advocate for Boys on the Run?[/quote]
I doubt you could create such a blatant copycat that you call it Boys on the Run, but if you want to create an after school program called Running Rangers, where kids wear camouflage t-shirts and focus on self discipline, personal growth, physical fitness, mental toughness, and spend time talking about the issues they face, their emotional needs, self esteem, and appropriate ways to express emotion, you can market it as an alternative to Girls on the Run. As long as you allow girls, just as they allow boys, I think you’d be fine.[/quote]

What if I - gasp - just want my kid to have access to a running after school activity, unecumbered by any ideology? [/quote]

What “ideology” is present in Girls on the Run?[/quote]

Ideology isn’t exactly the right word. The point is that Girls on the Run has a ton of chaff about “empowerment” and “kindness” etc that has nothing to do with running. In fact this would probably bug me if I was a “girl mom.” Why can’t they just run instead of focusing on “kindness”?

They describe themselves as “ Girls on the Run has fun, evidence-based programs that inspire girl empowerment by building confidence, kindness and decision making skills.”[/quote]

Wow. You’re disparaging an organization that emphasizes kindness. That’s… something.[/quote]

I’m not disparaging them. I’m just wondering why a girl’s athletic program has to include moral lessons instead of just … running? [/quote]

Because it's not a running program, it's a program for girls with leadership training.  And they do a bit of running, too.[/quote]

Why does girls leadership have to focus on “kindness”? If we’re talking about stereotypes here … this would really bug me. [/quote]

It would be nice if little white boys were taught kindness, as they grow up to be the vast majority of serial killers, sexual abusers of white children, and sexual abusers of white women - given that sex crimes are usually within one's one community. The serial killer thing they have to own outright.  :roll: Everyone should be taught kindness. [/quote]

Morton et, al, FBI:

‘Myth: Serial killers are all white males.

Contrary to popular belief, serial killers span all racial groups. There are white, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian serial killers. [b]The racial diversification of serial killers generally mirrors that of the overall U.S. population.[/b]”[/quote]

Uh-huh, but over 90 percent are men and over 52% are white men. More over, organizational killers are overwhelming white men.
[/quote]

Do you understand proportions? Serial killers are disproportionately male but they are not disproportionately white.[/quote]

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