Erykah Badu Thinks High School Girls Should "Lower Their Skirts"
Nothing good happens after midnight—unless it has to do with Erykah Badu on Twitter.
Badu posted a series of tweets late last night in reference to an article (possibly this one) that supposedly said high school girls should "lower their skirts so male teachers are not distracted." Badu's tweets about this subject weren't easy for everyone to swallow, but she did spark valuable conversation about the topic of men's and women's sexualities.
"There was an article ruling that high school girls lower their skirts so male teachers are not distracted," Badu tweeted. "I agree. ... I am aware that we live in a sex l-driven society. It is everyone's, male and female's, responsibility to protect young ladies," she continued. "One way to protect youth is to remind them we are all sexual in nature and as they grow and develop it is natural to attract men."
Badu went on to say that men "should be taught to be responsible for their actions from childhood" and that we all need to "protect young women and teach young men." Ultimately, her point was that it's in men's and women's natures to be sexual and be attracted to one another—and, well, short skirts generally attract men.
Many were quick to say that Badu's tweets are a form of slut-shaming or victim-blaming. Some responses were along the lines of, "Women shouldn't have to lower their skirts. Men should control themselves." Badu's overall point was this:
Sexuality is a part of human nature. It's normal to attract a person and be attracted to him or her. Attraction cannot be controlled, but acting on this attraction can be.
We can't say we agree with everything Badu said, but she does raise some interesting points. This is a conversation worth having and we're happy Badu has reignited the topic, especially for those who may not have had this discussion before. We could use more conversations about men and women and healthy sexuality—and what it means to be a "pervert" because we need some clarification on this tweet in particular:
If a 35-year-old man feels the urge to pursue a 15-year-old girl in a short skirt, does that make him a pervert? Please inform, Erykah.
Read some more of Badu's tweets on this topic here.