I’ve received a few messages from lovely men recently, apologising for the freaky messages which other men send me. Also advice from men and women that I should just block the senders and ignore the message.
There are a few reasons I do repost the message.
Firstly, I want other women to know that they are not alone. Being the recipient of unwanted excited nudes, scares many women away from social media. You feel at fault for posting photos – that perhaps you encouraged this behaviour.
Secondly, I want parents to see what their daughters will be exposed to. Rather than scaring the girls away from a fun platform, we should prepare them for the inevitable X rated pics which will come their way.
Thirdly, these photos must not be the sender’s form of virtual entertainment. They must realise that they are sending them to real people, who will screenshot their message and share it with others.
When I was a child, I knew there were men in raincoats who flashed their giblets to unsuspecting women. When I saw a man (yes he was wearing a raincoat) I knew to carry on walking and ignore it. He wasn’t targeting me – I just happened to be walking by.
We need to educate boys that this behaviour is unacceptable, and the girls that they are not at fault.
When I post a bikini shot, the weirdos arrive and its tempting to delete the photo. But I also get a larger number of messages from women, thanking me for making midlife bodies visible and normal.
I created this account for the girls and women. It’s up to us to teach the boys how to behave.
#womensupportingwomen #strongwomen #over50blogger