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.
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!
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.
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?
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!"
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).