Almost everyone I know has had the “curious” cousin or
family friend who tried to kiss or touch you during the child game of
family. When these occurrences happened a
couple of things proceeded; 1) you ran and told your parents and 2) somebody
got a whipping. Case closed! Usually the
outcome was so bad for the individual they were talked about for months and not
trusted to be alone with anyone. This is
how I grew up and how my family dealt with these types of things.
Apparently, according to Lena Dunham other families may act
differently, as evidenced in her new book, Not
that Kind of Girl in which she described three sexual acts with her younger
sister. See quotes here.
In my opinion the most disturbing aspect, is not the acts themselves but the
lack of parenting. If I caught my 7 year
old opening my 1-year-old daughter’s vagina, I would have spanked the hell out
of her. This would be an opportune time
to teach your child about not violating others.
Whether at 7 or 70, unless you have express permission to open up my
vagina, you shouldn’t touch it. If the
excuse lies on “curiosity”, the parents still should of treated this as a teaching
moment coupled with discipline. As the
old saying goes, curiosity killed the cat.
In this instance it would have killed her so-called explorations that
continued throughout the years.
It is not uncommon for children to be sexually curious even
at the age of 7. After all we see our
parents sleep in the same bed, closed doors, and we all have heard the creaking
of a bed and perhaps a moaning. After a
while you figure they’re not playing checkers and yes you wonder what’s it
like. There is nothing abnormal about
wondering. What’s abnormal is when you see a child spread someone’s legs and
open a vagina and pretend this is standard behavior. This type of behavior may
manifest itself into adulthood, which at this point may equate to a child
predator. By no means do I think Ms.
Dunham is predator rather she was curious child. However, by publishing this memoir and being
the voice of the millennial generation, is she giving permission to say, it’s
OK for your young child to be that sexually curious to the point of violating
others? Is she also willing to take
responsibility for those curious children who may turn into adult predators,
all because the voice of this generation said it’s OK! I doubt Lena Dunham wants to have the ills of
society on her shoulders. But, she needs
to understand her celebrity and voice have power, to jokingly minimize these
acts can spiral into a resonating delusion that these practices are
acceptable.
These excerpts from Lena Dunham’s book should make your skin
crawl. Being the comedic writher that
she is, I’m sure this wasn’t her original intent. It is clear that Ms. Dunham’s upbringing
lacked self-control; rather she was raised to be free, open and told this was
OK. Some things are not OK, and require discretion aligned with consequences. Perhaps
her parents may not have taught her this, but it’s apparent based on the
outpouring of rage the media and American public will!
Peace out,
Blacktina
Blacktina
