‘Catching print’ trend humiliating DS - contact college or let it go for now??

That it is completely unacceptable and that the girl should raise this with college if they want to. Exactly as what the OP is describing is unacceptable. But at 17 either boys or girls are old enough to advocate for themselves and decide themselves what the appropriate action is. The role of parents of older teens is to support their children to do this, not to do everything for them.

But not everyone is robust enough to do that at 17, and clearly OP has a concern that her son needs support.

I don’t think it’s really equivalent to the shit young women get about their breast sizes although that is also horrible, is also sexual harassment and can / does cause body image issues. But with breast size we see lots of positive images of small and large breasts whereas when it comes to penis size I can’t recall reading/hearing that some people prefer small. I’ve seen some truly nasty but totally casual and unchallenged posts on MN about male genitalia size, people can be so cruel about this and I can imagine it would be difficult for a boy with a very small penis. Why do people have to be such cunts frankly

So you think double standards are OK then ?

Why would OP have intervened in the past when she doesn’t have daughters at college who have been harassed in the same way ? Why is a 17 year old boy better able to cope with this kind of harassment that a similarly aged girl ? It isn’t levelling the playing field, it’s harassment and should be dealt with in the same way.

I wouldn't say that's what women go through, I'd chat to him about his own emotions in relation to it. If he can't join the dots between that and the immense social judgement that starts of women's bodies aged about 11, then I don't think you having a little chat is going to help.

I don't think this is a nice trend, but I think there is more of a whiff of 'but what about the men' about it. I'd call it out in my own home as I won't have that type of talk at home, just as I don't allow words that are derogatory to women like 'bitch' in my own home either.

If you watch The Inbetweeners, you will know that boys have been harassing girls by their breast size, bra size and body size forever. If you would rush to the college over these issues, and indeed have done in the past, then why not intervene again? If you haven't, I would let the boys deal with it themselves.

I haven't ever been to the college for anything, though, as at 17, this is not the space for adults.

What about that are you finding challenging?

Erm lots of FE colleges are 14 plus..

if you do go to the college, maybe also consider saying something if it happens in your own home again rather than just eavesdrop.

You think sexual harassment is ‘silly stuff’ ?

If you'd heard your son's male friend talking about the size of your daughter's breasts, would you have ignored that too?

At 17 he needs to speak to his tutor if he's concerned or upset. I agree it's not nice but he's very nearly an adult.

Yes. When things happened to me at that age and younger, I didn’t even tell my parents. I dealt with it.

what would the response be if it was boys laughing aloud at girls with small tits.

You overheard it on the landing and you didn't go in and say something?

I was wondering this but daren’t google it 🫣

If you think he's not to old to be defended by you, you should've defended him when your 14 year old daughter's friend, was talking about the size of his penis.

I'm sorry but 17 is still young, my 17 year old still needs me to ring college and they phone me we to collect him when he's unwell etc... of course you can phone. If someone said their 17 year old daughter was upset for a similar reason people wouldn't question you wanting to phone up.

Not the point of the thread but I don't understand how this works. What print on trousers? What is an A print?

Would you say the same to a 17 year old girl who was dealing with this sort of thing ?

Ask your son, does he want you to contact college about this? He should be involved in the conversation. And talk to your daughter about how it makes her brother feel so at least she can be "let's leave my brother's print out of this please" with her mates.

Well, my kids’ sixth form contacted me about an issue with my son as they thought it was serious. So if I thought an issue was serious enough I would get involved.

In this case, I would advise my son to speak to tutors if he was feeling targeted. I would base further actions depending on his wishes, the college’s response and any ongoing comments.

Yes, it's poor, isn't it?