If not for boys, I’d quit school
By Denise Noe
I recently happened to see a teenage girl wearing a t-shirt proclaiming, “If it weren’t for boys, I’d quit school.” To see such a frankly pro-male slogan flaunted some thirty years after Florence Kennedy popularized the line, “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle” was refreshing. It also stands in marked contrast to a t-shirt I saw a woman wear not too long ago: “Boys are stupid. Throw rocks at them.” It speaks volumes about our attitudes toward the genders to realize that this woman probably thought this slogan simply funny while someone wearing a similarly anti-female t-shirt proclaiming a lack of intelligence in girls and urging violence against them would have to know – or certainly be informed by many people – that such sentiments are deeply offensive.
Of course, it’s easy to put a cynical spin on a slogan such as “If it weren’t for boys, I’d quit school.” One observer did when he said, “It means she’s the school bike. Everyone rides her.” While feminists and lesbians are frequently denounced as man-haters, females who are frank in their fondness for men are often derided as promiscuous. Many people would automatically predict a future of traumatic pregnancy, heartbreak and STDs for a young lady who really likes boys.
The threat of an unplanned, unmarried pregnancy that hovers over adolescent girls like a black cloud makes them ripe targets for anti-male propaganda. This fact that this threat is uniquely female means that conservatives and liberals, traditionalists as well as feminists, tend to express more concern for teenage girls than their male counterparts despite the truth that boys are at much higher risk for many evils, including delinquency and suicide.
Indeed, the possibility of pregnancy can make heterosexuality a minefield for adolescent females. However, straight girls can richly enjoy their budding sexuality sans babies or abortions with a positive attitude coupled with some common sense. This roughly translates into saying “no” to male requests for sexual acts but “yes” to male company. Striking the proper balance here is no small feat for the constant urging of the adult world to “Just Say No” often ignores the truth that knowing when so say “yes,” and what to say it to, is vital to experiencing a rich, full life.
So, Ms. T-shirt, I hope you are a virgin and remain one for a good while. I hope that you are in fact learning the important subjects taught in school such as English, math, science, and developing athletically in your necessarily all-female physical education classes. I congratulate you for enjoying the company of the male sex, the winks, giggles, smiles, compliments, and sweet nothings that constitute the fine art of flirting. I also hope that you appreciate boys in all their splendid individual variety, understanding the many ways in which they are similar to girls as human beings while valuing the spice that comes with the differences of gender. If so, you are making good memories for your later years and learning skills that will stand you in good stead in mature relationships and a possible future marriage. I salute you.
I recently happened to see a teenage girl wearing a t-shirt proclaiming, “If it weren’t for boys, I’d quit school.” To see such a frankly pro-male slogan flaunted some thirty years after Florence Kennedy popularized the line, “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle” was refreshing. It also stands in marked contrast to a t-shirt I saw a woman wear not too long ago: “Boys are stupid. Throw rocks at them.” It speaks volumes about our attitudes toward the genders to realize that this woman probably thought this slogan simply funny while someone wearing a similarly anti-female t-shirt proclaiming a lack of intelligence in girls and urging violence against them would have to know – or certainly be informed by many people – that such sentiments are deeply offensive.
Of course, it’s easy to put a cynical spin on a slogan such as “If it weren’t for boys, I’d quit school.” One observer did when he said, “It means she’s the school bike. Everyone rides her.” While feminists and lesbians are frequently denounced as man-haters, females who are frank in their fondness for men are often derided as promiscuous. Many people would automatically predict a future of traumatic pregnancy, heartbreak and STDs for a young lady who really likes boys.
The threat of an unplanned, unmarried pregnancy that hovers over adolescent girls like a black cloud makes them ripe targets for anti-male propaganda. This fact that this threat is uniquely female means that conservatives and liberals, traditionalists as well as feminists, tend to express more concern for teenage girls than their male counterparts despite the truth that boys are at much higher risk for many evils, including delinquency and suicide.
Indeed, the possibility of pregnancy can make heterosexuality a minefield for adolescent females. However, straight girls can richly enjoy their budding sexuality sans babies or abortions with a positive attitude coupled with some common sense. This roughly translates into saying “no” to male requests for sexual acts but “yes” to male company. Striking the proper balance here is no small feat for the constant urging of the adult world to “Just Say No” often ignores the truth that knowing when so say “yes,” and what to say it to, is vital to experiencing a rich, full life.
So, Ms. T-shirt, I hope you are a virgin and remain one for a good while. I hope that you are in fact learning the important subjects taught in school such as English, math, science, and developing athletically in your necessarily all-female physical education classes. I congratulate you for enjoying the company of the male sex, the winks, giggles, smiles, compliments, and sweet nothings that constitute the fine art of flirting. I also hope that you appreciate boys in all their splendid individual variety, understanding the many ways in which they are similar to girls as human beings while valuing the spice that comes with the differences of gender. If so, you are making good memories for your later years and learning skills that will stand you in good stead in mature relationships and a possible future marriage. I salute you.
2 Comments:
Before feminism it was standard for young women to marry in their middle teen years, to become married with children by the time today's feminist trained women are applying for college. Insted of becoming a single unmarried mom, Ms. T-shirt needs to remember that "housewife" or "goodwife" is a very noble and valid choice for young women, and has been for a million years before feminism.
Look, we have to face one real fact before we delve into the deeper meaning of a teenaged girls t-shirt.
Fact:
Women have no idea what they want.
Why? because there are some women who can't get a man so therefore men are stupid OR they get a man, and then a baby and then a homelife and in the eyes of the first women (The one who DIDN'T get a man) the women are stupid.
OR the get a man and then frustrate the hell out of the man by trying to 'have it all', then the man is not happy and then the MAN is stupid. The underlying issue here is women deciding 'who is stupid'. So the girl in the t-shirt has a 2 in three chance of being declared stupid by other girls/women.
As for mens opinion about the t-shirt 'Heh,...cute....What? it just a shirt!?"
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