A __Missouri mothe__r, Tammie Jackson, was outraged when she phoned her daughter's school district to report that her 13-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, was constantly being sexually harassed because of her large breasts. But the alleged response from an employee at the Riverview Gardens School District horrified the already worried mom.
An employee at Gabrielle Jackson's middle school allegedly said that the girl should undergo surgery if she wanted to stop being bullied. The woman on the phone told Tammie Jackson that she could transfer Gabrielle to another school but to stop the lewd and insensitive remarks that were being made to her by her bullies, Gabrielle should get a breast reduction.
Obviously since she is provoking this sexual harassment with her large breasts, it is she who is at fault not the assholes who are accosting her. I suppose the school district employee also thinks that women who get raped provoke it by what they are wearing or their demeanor.
Read more ¿Qué Más?: Truth be told: I hate the dog
Why would any adult, especially a woman who has been through puberty, suggest to a mother to alter her daughter's body in order to stop others from harassing her? There is nothing that Gabrielle can do about her body. During puberty, your body has a mind of its own. Things grow, shift, and change daily. A child has no control over a pubescent body but those harassing have control over how they treat her and a grown adult certainly is responsible for making the asinine suggestion that the child have surgery to alter her body to appease others.
Isn't our job as adults to make sure that our children feel safe in their environment and secure in who they are, what they look like? We are all born different and that is what makes us special. It shouldn't be what makes us prey to bullies or worse sexual harassment.
Any woman who has ever been sexually harassed knows that it is one of the most uncomfortable things you will ever have to endure; someone undressing and fornicating with you with his eyes is disgusting and it makes you feel dirty. Never mind if these assholes are actually laying hands on this poor kid. It makes you feel unsafe and ashamed, like you did something to provoke him which would feel only further confirmed by the comments made by the school district employee.
If the people in charge at this school district don't stop this immediately, Gabrielle will start to hate her own body because she will associate it with being a source of that uncomfortable, unsafe, violated feeling.
As the mother of two girls, I am appalled. I would demand that the school district deal with this situation immediately. My daughter's safety is at stake. I would call every parent in that school of a daughter to let them know what kind of sexual harassment is being tolerated and going on in their school because honestly, it's only a matter of time before these bullies get bored with Gabrielle and move on to the next girl. I would call the bully's parents and let them know what their son is doing and that I will be pressing charges if it doesn't stop immediately. I would go down to that school district office and tell the woman on the phone exactly what I thought of her and her bad attitude, and maybe even give her a rundown of all the things that she could change about herself to improve the environment for the rest of us.
These people need to wake up and realize that this is more than just sticks and stones, it's only a matter of time until the envelope gets pushed so far on this sexual harassment that it evolves into full on sexual contact or rape. This situation is so much bigger than a 6th grader's breast size. It's about a society where we allow the victims to be blamed for the actions of their attackers.
Image via KTVI
