February is
Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month
So, not only did I not know about this... but I read this article, and I'm absolutely advocating that people share this. Teenage girls (and not so teenage) really need to read this. Randy Susan Meyers is utterly brilliant. I 100% agree with everything that she has said.
Coming from experience, I've also learned about the whole bad boy persona. While we may LOVE it in books, it REALLY sucks to be treated like this in real life. So, along with Randy Susan Meyers tips, I have a few of my own.
1. NEVER let anyone talk down to you, I don't care who it is.
-I know this is a lot harder done than said. As one of my general observations of life, people just plain old suck. STAND UP FOR YOURSELF.
2. DON'T let anyone change you.
- There isn't anyone out there like you. There is no reason for you to change who you are for someone else. Granted - Everyone can be quirky and are entitled to have their own opinions and ideas. EMBRACE YOUR UNIQUENESS. If people don't like it - they don't need to be a part of your life!
We've come into an age where women are independent, strong, and beautiful. So ladies - don't let that guy ruin you. Keep on walking cause he just isn't worth your time. You deserve the best, and don't forget it.
-Beth
Five Facts About That Bad Boy Of Yours
By Randy Susan Meyers
Perhaps the lure of the bad boy is similar to the lure of climbing Mt. Everest. It feels so good to conquer it and get to the top—despite all the pain you felt on the ascent. Sadly, you have to climb down and start all over again to get back up to that thrilling peak.
Working with batterers—men court-mandated into a program for men who’d been charged with domestic violence—for almost ten years afforded me plenty of material and plenty of insight. The clearest and most useful lesson I learned was this: a ‘bad boy’ isn’t edgy, exciting, and a bag of fun, he’s mean and selfish and looking out for number one—himself—all the time.
Many of the batterers were classic bad boys; they could charm like no one else. They gave me smoldering glances so I’d know that I was the ONLY one in the entire world who they’d let inside their soul. When they didn’t have money to pay for classes, or had been picked up on a new charge, or failed a drug test, they’d look at me with their carefully tortured eyes and tell me how sorry they were.
And they really were sorry. Sorry they’d been caught and sorry they had to spend another night pretending to pay attention to this crap we were teaching.
At their core, these guys weren’t very different from the bad boys I’d once been drawn to. But never again, not after working that job. I wish I could share with every woman the experience of sitting in a circle with 15 court-ordered-to-be-there bad boys, because at some point during the 42 weeks they occupied that chair in the church basement, they let loose with some truth that revealed the dime a dozen ordinariness of bad boy behavior.
I can’t put you in that room, I can try to share with you what I learned:
1) When you and your bad boy get in that insane fight, and you don’t know how it began, why it happened, or why he stormed out the door . . . when you’re ready to follow him so you can beg his forgiveness—but you don’t have any idea what to apologize for—here’s what’s really going on:
He wanted to get out of the house. So he caused the fight. The men I worked with admitted it. Laughing. Turns out this sleazy little tactic is very common.
2) Which leads to this: What did most men admit they wanted to get out of the truly awful battles? You know, the ones where he yelled so loud you finally backed down?
If Jeopardy could have more realistic categories, the response to “most common thing men want women to do? would be “Alex, what is “shut the f*** up.”
3) Think this when he tells you “you’re the only one I’ve ever been able to talk to.”
Think: Yeah, right. First of all he’s probably said the same thing to 100 other women before you. Because he knows it’s like catnip. The men I worked with were very clear that they used this line to manipulate women.
4) When he says, “I can’t live without you,” here’s a news flash. Yes he can. And he will. Quite well. The question is, can you live with him? Do you want to? Do you like being kept off balance? Do you treasure being used like medicine for someone’s lack of self-confidence or need to control?
5) You want to believe it will change. Things will get better. If you explain it once more, write one more email, one more text, or cry one more time, then finally he will understand! And once he understands, those moments of incredible tenderness and bliss —when he gives you that crooked smile and takes you in his arms and then gently helps you onto his exciting motorcycle—will last forever.
I promise you, things will not change. He will not get better. There’s nothing you can do without him wanting change, and the cycle will continue as long as you let it.
So here’s my advice, as a mother, a sister, a friend and most of all, from a woman who worked with those bad boys:
Choose kind over thrilling. It wears much better.
Choose responsible over devil-may-care. It will keep you and your children warm and safe at night.
Choose a man who wants to be your friend, not one who will be your life-long home improvement project.
ABOUT Randy Susan Meyers
Randy Susan Meyers is the author of The Murderer’s Daughters, a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award, named a “Must Read Book” and one of the “2011 Ten Best Works of Fiction” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Her writing is informed by her work with abusers and victims of domestic violence, as well as her experience with youth impacted by street violence. She lives with her husband in Boston, where she teachers for the Grub Street Writer’s Center.
Books By Randy Susan Meyers
(photo'sare linked to Goodreads)
No comments:
Post a Comment