Monday, April 28, 2014

NaPoWriMo Day Twenty-Eight: Agency

 young girls think
of sex as something that's
 "done to them"

heidi
written 4/28/14 for
http://www.napowrimo.net/2014/04/day-28-2/

Today's prompt was to take a poem from a news article. I did change "that is" from the article to "that's" so that it would fit the Collum Lune form, but this sentence stuck with me.  This is from Julianne Ross's PolicyMic article 17 Lies We Need to Stop Teaching Girls About Sex. Click the title to link to the article. It is very well written and makes excellent points. 

 

5 comments:

  1. Sometimes I have to "like" and "what the hell" my own poem. Because seriously, why are we okay with girls thinking that sex is done to them?

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  2. or that it is a commodity to be traded to move up in life...
    we have definitely cheapened our intimacy

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    1. I am afraid that we reinforce to girls and women that their bodies are their only value and that it is an entity separate from their minds. Kind of a Descartesian sexism that leaves us weaker as a society. Can you imagine? The only value that you believe you have lies in something that you don't believe you have any control over. That is too scary.

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  3. Not quite sure I totally agree with you lovely Heidi, Sex (the act to enable procreation?) is a biological 'need' in all of us. I do agree we of the female kind have been under the thumb of the male kind for generations and led to believe we must be submissive - and oh how many religions cast us as secondary to man and how so many of us believe this rubbish - and perhaps many do believe that sex is something "done to them" but I know many who take the lead as it is their right.
    Erm, perhaps my thought process is a little cloudy here - not long finished nightshift - but I hope you know what I am try to say...
    Hugs and stuff
    Anna :o]

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    1. Hey Sweet Anna!

      I don't think your thought process is cloudy at all. You make a good point. This is a found poem. The original text was

      "That sex education in America has gaping holes in its curriculum hasn't helped much, either; in a recent Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report just 6 out of 10 girls said that their schools' sex ed program included information on how to say no to sex. This lack of personal agency was reflected in a forthcoming study by sociologist Heather Hlavka at Marquette University as well, which found that many young girls think of sex simply as something that is 'done to them.'"

      There are other parts of the article that agree with your point that women do feel sexual urges and initiate intercourse. That one part kind of jumped out at me, in part because I hate that any girls feel that way, and in part because, it took three changes to make it a Collum Lune.

      I always appreciate your visits! And it's okay to disagree with me, my opinions can be a bit on the radical side. Just be patient if I am a pouty-puss about it. (Although I try really hard not to be.)

      Loadsa Love !
      heidi

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