I added this to the post because I think it belongs here.....SquareBiz
Muhammad Ali's advice to his daughters...Powerful! An incident transpired when Muhammad Ali’s daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were quite revealing. Here is the story as told by one of his daughters: “When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father’s suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchangedmany hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day. My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them.” He looked at me with serious eyes. “Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.” From the book: More Than A Hero: Muhammad Ali's Life Lessons Through His Daughter's Eyes.
I am a father of five girls (no boys) and when I read this article (#FastTailedGirls has a painful history behind it by Goldie Taylor...the grio) and your comments I am confused as to whether there is a problem with the term or the impact of the term because a rose by any other name..... becomes the Scarlet letter. My point is that we have to teach all of our daughters how to embrace their femininity without dressing in a way that sends the wrong message. My wife and I had to do the same with our girls regardless of their genetic make up. It seems that we are not accepting that there is a manner in which any person can intentionally carry themselves (including dress) that will attract the other sex. Your article talks about the drop in teen pregnancy but not among young teens. I assume that some of the younger teens that Goldie refers to in her statistics about teen pregnancy did not get raped but became sexually curious and proceeded to do something about it. Some of them grew up (probably without a dad or an active one) needing male attention or learning the power of female sexuality from unexplained male attention or from female role models in their midst. Most women grow to recognize this power. Fass girls in the projects were I grew up as a kid were the ones who seemed to use it liberally. We could have called these girls fass, Crass, Lass or any other degrading term but they all would lead back to the manner in which we carry ourselves.
There is never an excuse for older men who take advantage of these young ladies. Most young men are more afraid of sex than they would ever admit so I am not surprised that the exploitation happens with older men. I guess my point is to say there is a problem with young girls who are conditioned to explore their sexuality before it is prudent to do so as it relates to their maturity. On the other hand, there are girls who simply develop quickly who can get painted with this broad brush if they are not 'taught how to dress and how to handle themselves". I believe that people who abuse kids (boys get abused too) don't care if you are fass or not. In these scenario's, fass becomes an easy way out for an abuser who needs one.
The gap between an adult who notices fast tailed girls and one who pursues sex with them is a very wide one. When the girls who gets abused is not fass, then the abuser must alter the excuse a bit. All problems have roots and fast tailed girls (or whatever you want to call 'em) is a problem that is rooted in family dynamics that need to be addressed within America. Rape and abuse is a separate problem (most abusers were abused themselves) that we might allowing this topic to distract from a different problem in this case.
Women are majestically beautiful and powerful in ways that are unimaginable to many young women who limit their beauty to a myopic view. Fashion trends like skinny jeans today and daisy dukes way back when demand that we teach our girls to know that the booty is not your beauty. It's just an ass. Dress to turn yourself on and walk like you got it going on and you might be called a few things worse than fass, especially as a woman. But that's another topic for another day.
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