What We Forget To Tell Young Girls

By: Lanisha Porter

So often we condition young girls to believe that they should be attracted to the cultural idea of maleness; we encourage them to want the confident and charming guy but what we don't tell them is that the over-arching principle of those traits are that those guys may secretly be domineering and will try to insert their power in places they don't really belong like in the relationship. The relationship should never be a power struggle if it's coming from a true place of love. We forget to tell our girls that the man should want to conquer their heart and not their submission.  

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We should tell girls to be attracted to whoever they like and not who society says they should like. I remember when I tried to pair myself with the guy everyone told me I should like...once I did I realized he was actually very condescending and manipulative. He was hardly ever interested in learning what I was about. Instead he spent a lot of time trying to sway my perceptions to match his own. However, I was wise enough to know beforehand that compromise can only go so far in a relationship before you start to betray your own self. My highest recommendation to any young lady is like someone who genuinely excites you and who is interested in creating a healthy relationship for the both of you to thrive in. Don't date who society pairs you with or who history suggests would be "your type." Don't date types, date persons!