http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703779704576073752925629440.html
"Eek! A Male" was published in Janurary of this year. I did mention it on facebook, but haven't got around to mentioning about it on my blog until now. I was reminded to revisit this issue after borrowing Skenazy's book "Free Range Kids".
Anyways, back to "Eek! A Male!" While the title was very funny, it did highlight a serious anti-male sexism, and I'm glad that a female like Lenore Skenazy took a strong stand against this anti-male paranoia.
Some excerpts from "Eek! A Male!"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703779704576073752925629440.html
And so it goes these days, when almost any man who has anything to do with a child can find himself suspected of being a creep. I call it "Worst-First" thinking: Gripped by pedophile panic, we jump to the very worst, even least likely, conclusion first. Then we congratulate ourselves for being so vigilant.
Consider the Iowa daycare center where Nichole Adkins works. The one male aide employed there, she told me in an interview, is not allowed to change diapers. "In fact," Ms. Adkins said, "he has been asked to leave the classroom when diapering was happening."
Now, a guy turned on by diaper changes has got to be even rarer than a guy turned on by Sponge Bob. But "Worst-First" thinking means suspecting the motives of any man who chooses to work around kids.
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Those paragraphs really hit home with me! I worked as a substitute teacher with various age levels. I've worked preschools to high schools!
At some of the preschools I've subbed at, there has been gossip that some parents didn't want ME to change their kids diapers. Nevermind that the schools already done a background check! Me being a male was enough to arouse their suspicions.
Here's what I want to say them : You don't want me to change your kids diapers? GOOD! I NEVER WANTED TO CHANGE YOUR KIDS DOO-DOO DIAPERS ANYWAYS! TOILET TRAIN YOUR KIDS ALREADY!
I like everything about working at preschools EXCEPT FOR CHANGING DIAPERS! That would be true for 99.99% of all male & female staff members of preschools. We do enjoy seeing the kids play around, we enjoy nap time when the kids are resting, and we ALL think of changing diapers as a "neccessary evil that nobody wants to do, but it's gotta get done anyways" Remember, changing diapers = smelling stinky waste! Even males HATE smelling stinky waste!
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more from " Eek! A Male!"
Maybe the daycare center felt it had to be extra cautious, to avoid lawsuits. But regular folk are suspicious, too. Last February, a woman followed a man around at a store berating him for clutching a pile of girls' panties. "I can't believe this! You're disgusting. This is a public place, you pervert!" she said—until the guy, who posted about the episode on a website, fished out his ID. He was a clerk restocking the underwear department. Skenazy later made this point - What's really ironic about all this emphasis on perverts is that it's making us think like them!
So, who's the real pervert? It's NOT the male preschool worker changing diapers! It's the paranoid anti-male parents who are the real perverts!
So, who's the real pervert? It's NOT the male store worker restocking shelves with panties! The real pervert is that lady screaming at the male store worker!
Skenazy concluded "Eek! A Male!" with this great point
We think we're protecting our kids by treating all men as potential predators. But that's not a society that's safe. Just sick.
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A belated thank you to Lenore Skenazy!
