Reply #262: As a former high school teacher, I did talk to them about it

[knitter4democracy]

Before every dance, I would talk with my students about healthy ways to show love and what would not be tolerated on the dance floor. Keep in mind, it's a public arena with a lot of people standing around, watching. I talked with my students about what's appropriate in public and what isn't, and how sex can be misused and abused. Of course, it was a Catholic school, so I had to stay within what the Church says, but I still was encouraged to talk about it.

If a girl bends down, even to pick something up, a guy comes up behind her and rubs himself all over her. First of all, what's she getting out of this? Second, is it really okay to tell guys (either overtly or not) that it's okay to treat women like that? If a ring of kids forms around that, with guys grabbing themselves while watching two kids simulate sex (which I saw happen, mind you), is that okay? Is it okay for a group of guys to form a ring around a teacher--a teacher!--in order to help one of their own rub himself on her? He got yanked to the ground and kicked out of the dance, but what makes it okay for him to do that to a student?

Things are worse than most people here know. It's not that we're uncomfortable with sex--it's that chaperones and other students shouldn't have to watch it in public.