Who’s Afraid of Those Smart Women?

Nancy Northup takes Maureen Dowd’s discussion of gender stereotypes a step further in this Letter to the Editor, revealing that federally financed abstinence-only curriculums promote outdated gender biases.The New York Times, Letter to the Editor
Published: November 17, 2007 To the Editor:Re “Should Hillary Pretend to Be a Flight Attendant?,” by Maureen Dowd (column, Nov. 14):That men are shallow and fragile when it comes to selecting a mate — or a date — is more than just a sad stereotype. It is a view of gender relations propagated in federally financed abstinence-only curriculums. For example, in one such program, WAIT Training, women are described as needing “devotion,” “family commitment” and “financial support” from men, while factors that are taught to be important in men’s choice of a wife are “physical attractiveness,” “domestic support” and “admiration.”Our country is — or should be — committed to equality, including gender equality. In 2007, our nation’s young people should no longer be indoctrinated to believe that girls should hide their lights in order to build boys’ egos. And we, as taxpayers, certainly shouldn’t be paying for it. Nancy Northup
President
Center for Reproductive Rights
New York, Nov. 15, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/17/opinion/l17dowd.html