I’m Sorry You Feel That Way, But Daddy-Daughter Dates Are Wonderful

Some of my favorite memories of my childhood come from the time I was able to spend with my father. Learning from him allowed me to see that there are men in the world who value the respect that should be given to women, and it showed me that he cared about spending quality time with me. I felt loved, and I looked forward to being able to talk with him and seek out the wisdom that he had.

I became very emotional after reading this article because the only thing that I took away from it was the bitterness from this woman. The research that she had done for her blog post had to do with statistics that related to incest, not incest because of daddy – daughter dates. She was opinion based on stating that “Moreover, it’s just… creepy. ‘Daddy-Daughter Date’ sounds like a porno. You can’t escape the incest-inspired overtones of these dances and ‘dates.’” I don’t understand why she would relate the two. Something as wonderful as a father spending time with their daughter, and allowing her to know of her worth does not sound like porno to me. When talking about daddy daughter dates, it shows that the father is taking time out of his day to show interest in his daughter’s life by taking her out for a nice evening.

This blog writer stated that, “This is 2017. And newsflash, women don’t need men to do things for them. We don’t need some big, bad patriarchal figure to hold the door or complement our inner beauty. We deserve men who are equal partners, who share life’s journey with us, and who treat us as equals. Daddy-daughter dates include an implicit power dynamic, and it’s not in favor of the girl. They aren’t empowering. They’re teaching girls to accept a domineering masculine figure in their lives.” Her point was obviously trying to prove that women can be independent and expressing her feminist values, but she executed that position very poorly.

Her points are nothing but raging. Women can be strong, and can also be expected to be treated like a woman who has worth. She never states anything of how she thinks women should be treated instead, but if she doesn’t like the idea of a door being opened, or being complimented, then I can only imagine what her thoughts are of being treated of worth.

Daddy daughter dates are not ‘power dynamic.’ By taking your daughter out to a movie, a sit down dinner, or doing nice gestures such as opening the door and pulling out your chair, you are showing your child that there is a level of respect that can come because of chivalry, not because the father is then thinking, ‘I want to rape my child.’ She sexualized the action that was originally pure, and should learn a thing a two from Natasha Helfer Parker on why that is harmful for the mind of a child.

I am saddened by her perspective of what feminism is. You can have both. You should expect to have both! (Both being that you can be a successful women by the passions you want to pursue, and expect that there are men out there that want to treat you with respect because both men and women deserve to have that.) However, her perception is that in order to be equal, you can’t have the expectation that men should be kind to you either.

I believe in having tight knit families, and I believe in raising children who see the value of their worth, and are empowered to live out their dreams. I can’t wait for my loving husband to be able to take out our daughters on dates and spend time with them, because I know that he will instill in their minds that they are capable of things that can change the world.