Let's Discuss...

I think I've solved this riddle, perhaps.

I saw something today that got me thinking, and I’d like your input on this. A woman on a reel said the reason men can be attracted to children, although they may very well have children of their own, is because they don’t have a hand in raising them.

It’s a fact that, even in two-parent households, the overwhelming share of raising children falls on the mother. I just yesterday saw a street interview with multiple dads, in front of their children, and these dads didn’t know even the most basic details about their kids.

Not a birthday, not the name of the school, not a clothing size. One guy even got his daughter’s middle name wrong. That’s really less than bare minimum. Hell, I know all of those things about my neighbor’s daughters, simply because I see them every day.

It’s no surprise, then, that if the kid’s dad doesn’t even know what school they go to, there isn’t a whole lot of father/child bonding happening there. Of course, correct me if I’m wrong, because as y’all know, my dad was in prison until I was 16, so maybe it’s possible to be a great dad and know none of those things about your child.

I don’t think so, but whatever, I’ve been wrong once.

I think that, as women, we look at teenagers and we think things like, “Jesus Christ, let me get out of here before they ask me for a ride somewhere”, or “someone should tell that girl her bra is visible under her blouse, but I’m not jumping into that emotional breakdown with a teenage girl”.

We look at teenagers and see the same punk ass kids our friends are always droning on and on about, the same little brat who borrowed my jeans her mom borrowed from me and got Sharpie on them in three places. The same kids we’ve watched at recitals and sleepovers since they were four, so they’re just kids to us.

With as many recitals as I’ve crashed, and the multitudes of sleepovers I’ve snuck out of to smoke weed and rejoin so I didn’t lose my shit at a handful of 12-year-olds, there’s a reason I’ve been there. I’ve done a metric fuck ton of filling in for absent dads.

Some absent for the event, some absent for the duration, but it’s neither here nor there. I was there because they were not. Otherwise, why would I spend my drunk and sparkly Aunt Meow time at events I fucking hate?

That’s right.

I wouldn’t.

Perhaps it is easier for men to look at teen girls and view them as prey because, no, they can’t compare them to their daughters. They don’t even know their fucking daughters.

Of course, that doesn’t excuse it in any way, shape, or form. But I know I’ve personally sat at a table at Hooter’s with a dude who had a 19-year-old daughter, and the waitress he was being a sex pest toward was the same fucking age.

That’s gross.

And that’s certainly not the worst of the behaviors out here, as we’re aware. Hell, at 11 and 12, grown men were trying to “be my boyfriend”. I’m sure every single woman I know has a very similar story. It’s no isolated incident; it’s a scourge on society.

It’s almost as though men will attempt to sexually exploit girls as young as they think they can get away with violating. And if they thought they would never face a repercussion, I’m afraid of just how young they would go. Honestly, I already know, but I lie to myself and say that I’m wrong.

I’m not.

Do y’all think that if men had to be the one who showed up all the time, the one who carried all of the mental and emotional load for the kids, maybe it would be more difficult for them to view young girls as sexual objects? Or would it just provide more access with less oversight to them?

Of course, the standard, “not all blah blah”, but the fucking percentages are astronomical, I’ll state that for the record. As sad as it is, I’m never surprised when I hear of a man taking advantage of a child.

Honestly, I’m kind of surprised when they don’t.

-Q