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Parenting

17th Aug 2019

Mum sees red after overhearing ‘sexist’ dating advice her husband gave to their son

Amy Nolan

Mum sees red after overhearing 'sexist' dating advice her husband gave to their son

She took to Reddit to get some other opinions.

Navigating your child’s first relationship can be a tricky aspect of parenting. When it comes to dating you often want to help and offer advice, but equally, you want to give them space and privacy.

When one woman’s son hit a stumbling block in his relationship she told him to be respectful and accept the fact that it is over if the other party wasn’t reciprocating his feelings.

As her son’s father had been away, she took the lead in offering dating advice and reinforced this message of respect.

On his return, her son asked for his father’s advice and the woman was shocked at what he had to say. When she was out of earshot he said:

“‘Never listen to what women say about dating. Just pay attention to what they do.

“Your mother will tell you things because she thinks they’ll work, but trust me, it’s better to just watch how they behave and change your behavior based on that.”

Livid at what he had to say she took to Reddit and complained:

“This struck me as being incredibly sexist and dismissive of not just what I said but of who I am as a woman. What about our daughters???

“I feel like this was an awful thing to teach our son… Am I overreacting or is my husband actually the sexist asshole?”

The reactions were mixed, with some people saying that the father had meant well, but phrased it badly. Others firmly sided with the dad saying:

“Dads advice is much better because it makes his son treat women as individuals and not a large mass of women that he has to be nice too.

“That’s if you believe women are individuals and not a hivemind.”

While others were firmly in mum’s camp:

“The problem here is that the advice involves not listening to what the woman wants. Even if it works and he gets the girl, it’s not good dating advice because it’s a sexist way to get into a relationship.”

What do you think?