03-07-2010, 05:04 PM
(03-07-2010, 12:54 PM)Pablísimo Wrote:(03-06-2010, 12:18 PM)Bring4th_Monica Wrote: Was she intentionally challenging those men, so that she could then find an excuse to criticize men? Or was she reveling in her own youth and beauty, oblivious to the effect she was having on men?
Wow, some old catalyst just jumped up at me. All these years, I assumed it was the former, and I could be right, but what if it was the the latter? That changes the equation dramatically. Thanks for the insight on intent!
I can speak from experience on this. When I was a teenager in the 70s, I wore short shorts and midriff-baring halter tops in the summer, as was the style. I thought nothing about it. I routinely walked downtown dressed like that.
When I was 16, my sister's husband tried to seduce me. I was shocked and refused him, of course, but it caused a family scandal. He blamed his actions on the way I dressed!
I honestly had no intention of teasing him. He was my sister's husband! I was comfortable at home, and though of him the way I thought of my brothers. It never, ever entered my mind that he would be attracted to me in that way, because I didn't think of him as someone I wanted to attract! I most definitely was trying to attract teenage boys, of course! But not married men in their 20s! (which was old to me at the time, ha.) And married men that were part of my family, no less!
I was obviously naive. Not about the feminine power - I was fully aware of that, as it related to the boys I was interested in - but I was naive about older men whom I thought were supposed to behave in a mature way.
Around that same time, another incident occurred that reinforced my coming-of-age enlightenment - my best friend's dad touched me inappropriately one day in the car when he was taking me home after I'd spent the night at my friend's house. This totally shocked me! This was a DAD!!! My own dad was old and sexless (or so I thought!) so having an encounter with a 'dirty old man' really did a number on my head!
I told my mom and she wouldn't let me spend the night there anymore. I never did tell my friend.
Anyway, I did nothing to warrant that. I dressed like all the other girls of my generation. I even remember what I was wearing that day, and it wasn't even anything skimpy.