By Cindy Johnson
I’ve seen this over and over, from well-meaning, intelligent friends who are parents. They’ll post a photo of their daughter and say “I’m going to be in trouble with this one!” The implication, I suppose, is that particular child seems to fit well into society’s standards of what is beautiful so more boys will want to date her, or she will be at greater risk of being the object of sexual attention.
I’ve seen people say it to a parent regarding one child in front of other kids. “You’re going to be in trouble with her, look at her eyes!” That other kid over there – the not so pretty one – well that one’s going to be easy because nobody will look at her. I mean, people don’t say that, but is that the implication? How does that make the other child feel – the one who isn’t “trouble?” Also, what about the child whose beauty is being described as a problem, as something that is going to be difficult for the parent to deal with?
We should empower EVERY child, male and female, to make responsible informed decisions about their own bodies, to love themselves just as they are.
EVERY child is beautiful. Sadly, EVERY child is in danger of sexual abuse, to imply it only happens to “pretty” kids is absolutely ridiculous, and frankly it is dangerous thinking. We need to teach EVERY child that their body, their soul, is beautiful and precious. Every child will find someone who cares for them, who wants to date them, and that is a wonderful thing. I don’t believe we should ever single a child out and say their beauty is dangerous. We should empower EVERY child, male and female, to make responsible informed decisions about their own bodies, to love themselves just as they are. To never make them feel as if being beautiful is dangerous, or that not being society’s narrow view of “beautiful” somehow insulates them from the “danger” of attention from the opposite sex.
