Girl Scouts: Don’t force kids to hug, kiss relatives
“Have you ever insisted, ‘Uncle just got here; go give him a big hug!’ or ‘Auntie gave you that nice toy; go give her a kiss’ when you were worried your child might not offer affection on her own? If yes, you might want to reconsider the urge to do that in the future.”
That’s the advice the Girl Scouts of America is giving to parents. The organization published a blog post this week arguing that forcing children to hug relatives and family friends during the holidays could muddy the waters when it comes to the notion of consent later in life.
The piece comes as some of the most powerful men in nearly every major industry — from Hollywood to journalism to politics —
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are being publicly called out for sexual harassment and assault. The organization said in a statement to ABC the blog post was written partially “in light of recent news stories about sexual harassment.”
The post is titled “Reminder: She Doesn’t Owe Anyone a Hug. Not Even at the Holidays.”
It argued that by consenting to a hug she doesn’t want, a young girl could get “the wrong idea about consent and physical affection.”
“Making her give hugs now can make her wonder if she ‘owes’ another person physical affection when they’ve bought her dinner or done something else seemingly nice for her later in life,” the organization said in a Facebook post, which was shared almost 7,000 times.
Many on Twitter praised the organization for its message. Actress Amber Tamblyn, one of the leading voices calling out the sexual harassment problem endemic to Hollywood, shared the story with a thank you to the Girl Scouts.
“Our daughters owe no one hugs, smiles or kisses and we should start teaching them this young,” she said in the tweet.
“I’m having a difficult time accepting this,” tweeted John Aravosis, editor of AMERICAblog, which describes itself as a “progressive” journal of “news and opinion.”
“Lots of younger people today were raised to think as you do, that children/ younger people are equal to if not superior to adults/elders,” he concluded. “It’s a recipe for raising a generation of brats, and has zero to do with rape culture.”