{"id":6762,"date":"2014-07-29T09:41:48","date_gmt":"2014-07-29T13:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?p=6762"},"modified":"2014-07-29T15:19:24","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T19:19:24","slug":"when-i-was-a-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/07\/when-i-was-a-boy.html","title":{"rendered":"When I Was A Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/files\/2014\/07\/children-kids-indian-2836067-h1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-6765\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/107\/2014\/07\/children-kids-indian-2836067-h1-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"children-kids-indian-2836067-h\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I have been following a thread on a group\u00a0Facebook page\u00a0 for <a title=\"Good Men Project\" href=\"http:\/\/goodmenproject.com\" target=\"_blank\">The Good Men Project <\/a>\u00a0that was prompted by a <a title=\"Video\" href=\"www.youtube.com\/watch?v=D51_GQqVfSk\" target=\"_blank\">video<\/a> I had posted that showed a young woman being harassed by two young men while she was walking home from school. What happens next is conversation stirring.\u00a0 One by one, other men step up and make a human barrier between her and the ones who would do her harm. Some who see it feel it is heartwarming and reassuring while others feel it is paternalistic and sexist.<\/p>\n<p>It had me thinking about the ways in which boys and girls are raised to become men and women. Are women by nature in need of male protection? Are men by virtue of size and strength obligated to protect women?\u00a0 What if a woman is capable of looking after herself most of the time?\u00a0 Is it still a man&#8217;s job to take care of her?\u00a0 Does it disempower her?<\/p>\n<p>My take is that no one should feel unsafe walking alone, in danger of assault or harassment.<\/p>\n<p>I grew up with an overprotective father who worried about me (I suspect until the day he died in 2008) and made sure that I could stand on my own two feet without requiring a man to provide for me. When I was married, my husband and I shared financial responsibility and since he died, I have been supporting myself and my son. We shared household tasks and there was no division of labor in terms of &#8216;men&#8217;s work&#8217; and &#8216;women&#8217;s work&#8217; in our home just as it had been in the home of my family of origin in which both parents did everything.<\/p>\n<p>My dad\u00a0raised (along with my mother who was not smothering) my sister and me as kids and girls. Frilly dresses and jeans. Acting &#8216;like a lady&#8217; and digging in the dirt, riding bikes, flying kites, roller skating, learning to change tires and oil. He was a gentleman and treated women with respect; opening doors and holding out chairs. He was a Golden Gloves boxer in the Navy and worked out well into his late 70&#8217;s-early 80&#8217;s and could easily have been a body guard. He likely would have felt it was a man&#8217;s job to protect a woman. He wouldn&#8217;t have supported me walking alone at night as I have many times. AND he knew I would make my own choices without putting myself in harm&#8217;s way.<\/p>\n<p>This song by Dar Williams called\u00a0 <a title=\"When I Was A Boy\" href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/8gIZt0hE1E0\" target=\"_blank\">When I Was A Boy <\/a>says it brilliantly. As men and women, may we all feel free to choose our own way to be.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit- <a title=\"Happy Children Playing Kids\" href=\"http:\/\/everystockphoto.com\" target=\"_blank\">epSos.de\/Everystock<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have been following a thread on a group\u00a0Facebook page\u00a0 for The Good Men Project \u00a0that was prompted by a video I had posted that showed a young woman being harassed by two young men while she was walking home from school. What happens next is conversation stirring.\u00a0 One by one, other men step up&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,13,601,3532,19,14,4,16,179,7,17,29],"tags":[4887,4897,1616,1617,3910,3707,3110],"class_list":["post-6762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss","category-blissfull-thinking","category-dar-williams","category-edie-weinstein","category-empowerment","category-how-to-invite-bliss","category-inspiration","category-my-personal-bliss","category-parenting","category-re-creating-your-life","category-relationships","category-women","tag-dar-williams","tag-edie-weinstein","tag-golden-gloves","tag-navy","tag-sexism","tag-the-good-men-project","tag-when-i-was-a-boy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>When I Was A Boy - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/07\/when-i-was-a-boy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When I Was A Boy - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have been following a thread on a group\u00a0Facebook page\u00a0 for The Good Men Project \u00a0that was prompted by a video I had posted that showed a young woman being harassed by two young men while she was walking home from school. What happens next is conversation stirring.\u00a0 One by one, other men step up&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/07\/when-i-was-a-boy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-29T13:41:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-29T19:19:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/files\/2014\/07\/children-kids-indian-2836067-h1-300x168.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When I Was A Boy - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/07\/when-i-was-a-boy.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When I Was A Boy - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"I have been following a thread on a group\u00a0Facebook page\u00a0 for The Good Men Project \u00a0that was prompted by a video I had posted that showed a young woman being harassed by two young men while she was walking home from school. 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She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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