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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

If you have dds, do you think their life will be better than yours (from the pov of being a woman, not in general)?

143 replies

Takver · 05/02/2015 10:37

Struggling with how to word this, but I was thinking about it the other day. I left school in 1988, so a long time ago now. I would say that the opportunties I had were noticeably better than say if I'd been 10 years older and finished school in 1978. But I don't really see that there have been any major improvements since then. As in, I don't think my dd will have a better chance in life than I did, as regards sexism. What do others reckon - am I being pessimistic?

I guess my comparison would be that life for a LGBTQ teen would I think be a great deal better than for someone in the same position 30 years ago, although obviously there is still bullying, intolerance et al.

OP posts:
YonicScrewdriver · 05/02/2015 19:22

X post puffins, who put it better.

VirginiaTonic · 05/02/2015 19:21

I sometimes despair of the attitude of my dd. Just tonight she has said she doesn't want to go the school disco because none of the boys have asked her to dance with them and she willl look an idiot an have to hide in the toilet at the end. WTF!!!? Where does this crap come from? First of all she is 9 (???), and secondly, why on earth does she feel the need to wait to be asked, and thirdly why does she need to have a boy validate her credibility at school. This certainly hasn't come from us!! But this crap is out there! Why?

YonicScrewdriver · 05/02/2015 19:20

Yops,. FOGH could have phrased her post better perhaps, by using "your mother's generation" or similar - but your response with specifics about your mother, wasn't necessary. Even if you did make them up.

If you'd said "err, prefer not to have my mother and that thought in the same sentence, actually" then couldn't we have gone on having PARD?

It's undoubtedly true that some things are better for your DD than your mother, and some worse.

PuffinsAreFictitious · 05/02/2015 19:20

And I suppose you are backing down from trying to twist words and meanings, because your 'buddy' and not me introduced anal sex, shaved genitals and my mother into the same post.

I'm not sure you're right there, Yops, sorry, the two posts went as follows (you're in bold, Groundhog is in italics):-

There is no comparison between the opportunities that gran and granddaughter have in their lives.

Yes and I bet there was absolutely no expectation that your mother be completely hairless and in to anal either

She is both - always been a free spirit, has mum.

So, while Groundhog said, quite rightly, that your daughter will have completely different sexual norms imposed on her, you were the one who suggested that your mother had always embraced those norms, because she's a free spirit..... which is a touch grim, really.

SardineQueen · 05/02/2015 19:18

Huh?

Yops I don't know what you're talking about.

What is your view on the levels of personal grooming expected, and the large-scale consumption of porn, on girls in 2015?

SardineQueen · 05/02/2015 19:17

They need to teach that porn is like any other films it is not real it is a story, a fantasy.

They need to teach about the types of personal grooming that men & women who are employed in porn undertake, that they are chosen because of certain assets, that different porn is made to appeal to different people, that scenes are cut, that both men and women can and do drug themselves in order to perform, and so on and so on. That it does not represent real life sex in the sense of 2 (or even more!) people getting it on very much at all really. Real sex is a lot more hit and miss - especially with a new partner or trying new things - and should be fun & etc etc and so on.

That's what I think anyway I can't see another way to tackle it.

zerosuitsamus · 05/02/2015 19:16

I haven't got teenagers yet, but is a shame if there is coercion around sex nowadays. It has changed significantly from my teenager years as I don't think teenage boys did coerce girls back then.

Yops · 05/02/2015 19:12

And I suppose you are backing down from trying to twist words and meanings, because your 'buddy' and not me introduced anal sex, shaved genitals and my mother into the same post. How mealy-mouthed of you. All stemming from me talking about taking my daughter to university. You would have gone fucking mental if it had been the other way round. Pathetic.

FuckOffGroundhog · 05/02/2015 19:10

I'm not sure, we can keep banging on about consent in sex...but when sex is being redefined by hardcore pornography I don't know if it really means anything. If our daughters (and their partners) are being taught that this is what sex should be this is what they will do. Confidence won't matter

SardineQueen · 05/02/2015 19:08

The focus should be on teaching boys (and therefore men as they grow up) about issues around consent, coercion and so on to try and counteract other toxic influences.

And of course on teaching girls that they don't have to do anything they don't want to etc.

But positioning it with an idea that it's all on the girls to fend off boys won't get us anywhere in the longrun as it maintains this Victorian approach of girls being "the gatekeepers of sex" when what we actually want is people undertaking to have mutually pleasurable & safe encounters together IYSWIM.

amigababy · 05/02/2015 19:01

that that pressure exists is no doubt. What can / would make our daughters more resistant to these pressures, more able to speak out assertively and with confidence? Can they be more confident to say no, than say, we were in previous decades? And if not, why not?

SardineQueen · 05/02/2015 18:48

I suppose you are saying that you have no problem with girls being held to ever more time consuming standards of personal grooming and pressurised into "trickier" sex acts.

Which is one perspective but these are the sort of issues that people who post on FWR get concerned about.

Although arguably it's the pressure rather than the sex act itself - the fact of girls being treated in A&E for rectal injury in increasing numbers is concerning but then unwanted pregnancy / STDs are no laughing matter. I'd take the view that it's the fact of coercion being quite normal in teen relationships, and the view that the purpose of sex is for the male to get the female to do things that he will enjoy but she won't. While the coercion was there when I was growing up, the gist of sex was that it was supposed to be mutually pleasurable and there was more experimentation. Now it is much more prescribed as porn is seen as a checklist of acts to do to someone or have them do to you and always from a male perspective.

FuckOffGroundhog · 05/02/2015 18:48

You yops advised us that your daughter has it much better than you mother.

I then said the sexual expectations placed on your mother would have been very different than those put on your daughter.

I never commented on your mother's sexual proclivities, anal or otherwise. You freely chose to share that information. Makes you wonder why?

SardineQueen · 05/02/2015 18:39

I think you're missing the point.

Girls these days are expected to meet different and more time consuming standards of personal grooming than their parents did. Due to the proliferation of easily accessible porn, depicting as standard many acts that would have been considered quite "advanced" in decades gone by, girls are increasingly being pressurised into performing acts which would previously have generally not been on the cards until further along in one's sexual career. Sex learnt from porn also focusses on males "doing stuff" to females rather than showing mutually pleasurable experiences.

These are the sort of issues that concern people, and which were referred to upthread, in that while some things have improved, others have worsened.

When referenced, your response "well my 70yo mum is hairfree and loves anal" seems odd. It doesn't feel like you are really engaging with the issues, somehow.

Yops · 05/02/2015 18:32

SQ, read back and ask yourself this - who mentioned those two things? Who brought them to this thread, in the context of my mother? Was it me? Is that what you read?

SardineQueen · 05/02/2015 18:21

I'm just really boggled at that.

Anyway, in response to the OP.

It's kind of different I think. So some things have come on a long way - maternity leave, employment type stuff, discrimination, overt sexism

Some things are the same or worse - mainly around appearance / sex stuff & huge pressure due to constant social media.

SardineQueen · 05/02/2015 18:19

Urgh at coming on to advise us that you mother who is nearly 70 is entirely hairless and loves anal.

WTAF?

FuckOffGroundhog · 05/02/2015 18:04

Uh I didn't actually.

stargirl1701 · 05/02/2015 17:58

I think my DDs will have as good opportunities in their schooling and careers. Sexually, I worry. They will be put under pressure to so many things I wouldn't have heard of as a young woman.

Yops · 05/02/2015 17:51

Well, you asked. No secrets in our family Grin

FuckOffGroundhog · 05/02/2015 17:45

She is both - always been a free spirit, has mum.

unusual relationship you have with your mother.

FuckOffGroundhog · 05/02/2015 17:43

Also regarding Benny Hill, I think that kind of humour is just seen as passé in general. Rape jokes and jokes where women are naked or their clothes fall off or are sexually harassed still permeate the media. The "we saw your boobs" gag on The Oscars a couple years ago was a very good example

The Sun only got rid of the News in Briefs blurb last year. The whole joke was that a naked woman had an intelligent opinion

Yops · 05/02/2015 17:33

She is both - always been a free spirit, has mum.

FuckOffGroundhog · 05/02/2015 17:29

There is no comparison between the opportunities that gran and granddaughter have in their lives.

Yes and I bet there was absolutely no expectation that your mother be completely hairless and in to anal either

Yops · 05/02/2015 17:11

Absolutely, Yonic. I'd have jumped at the chance. I think it will make a massive difference.