‘Kids are gross’: on feminists and agency

staxilicious:

squarerootofnil:

fullten:

astrobleme22:

this is a good read

 “Oscar gets more unsolicited comments about how cute he is, more uninvited pinches on the cheek and ruffles of the hair and demands for affection from strangers, than anyone else I know. I made a point, from when he was very young, of teaching him to express his discomfort: he says ‘I want some space’; he says ‘I feel shy’; he says ‘I don’t want you to touch me’; he says ‘I don’t like that, please stop.’ These statements from him are almost always laughed at, and then ignored, until I step in on his behalf.”

People never think of children as people. They are tiny humans with feelings and agency dammit.

This is so important. The only way to teach people to respect boundaries is to respect the boundaries they set for themselves. Anything else is self serving hypocrisy. And it starts as young as communication – children can communicate boundaries even before they start speaking aloud.

‘Kids are gross’: on feminists and agency