How To Teach Boys To Respect Women

The little feminist in me rarely comes out these days. She secretly likes the freedom of being able to depend on a man she's in love with. However, there are a few things that make her stand up and scream. A recent story in the news got her going. A BBC documentary was recently released on YouTube.  It tells the story of a woman in India who was raped and then blamed for the terrible tragedy. This horrible crime occurred in 2012. A woman and her male friend had just gone out to see a movie. On the way home, a group of guys decided to pick them up. They proceeded to rape the woman and beat her and her friend. The documentary shows a clip of one of the assailants. He blames her for the event. 

 

Apparantly he thought she should have given in, allowed them to assault her, and then it would have been fine. In the documentary, he said she asked for it by being out late. 

 

What is the world coming to when a woman is blamed for something traumatic that consequently killed her? 

 

What is society teaching men that allows this to be acceptable? 

 

This can be seen at varying degrees in different cultures. Not all cultures are as bold, but an absence of respect for women can be seen. 

 

We have to start teaching our young boys to love and respect women. If they learn this and see it modeled to them, they will grow up to be strong men that take care of the women in their lives and stand up against injustices like this. 

 

Here are a few things we're doing to teach our boys about respect. 

 

Respect them. 

Kids learn through example. We are constantly trying to show our boys how much we love them. They need to know they are the priority when we're together. We do that by looking at them when we're talking, listening to their stories (as long as they can be), hug them, and tell them how much we love them.

 

Teach by example.  

My husband is the first person our boys are going to look to in order to see how women should be treated. He is constantly showing them what it looks like to love mommy, take care of mommy, and be there for mommy. We also have a lot of great male friends, uncles, cousins, and grandfathers that teach our children a great example.

Be honest and open. 

We're all going to fail. We'll make wrong choices in the moment, but your response teaches a lot. Show your boys what to do when you mess up. Make sure you are honest when you make a mistake and apologize right away.

How do you teach your boys to respect women?