Ms. Badu – what did you do?
Erykah Badu had Twitter in a frenzy Monday afternoon when she started tweeting about the need for high school-aged girls to lengthen their skirts as not to “distract” male teachers.
The singer was responding to and agreeing with an article published in The Guardian about a New Zealand principal who had advised girls to make changes to their skirt length to “stop boys from getting ideas.”
—Viral Photo Has Internet Asking: Which Woman is the Mother?—
So Badu tweeted her agreement with the principal’s sentiments – and then things got real:
I agree.We are sexual beings .
We should consider everyone.
Young girls are attractive. Some males are distracted. https://t.co/q6N7bpxO0Z— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 11, 2016
There was an article ruling that high school girls lower their skirts so male teachers are not distracted. I agreed because…
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
…I am aware that we live in a sex l-driven society. It is everyone's, male and female's, responsibility to protect young ladies…
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
…one way to protect youth is to remind them we are all sexual in nature and as they grow and develop it is natural to attract men…
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
…it is not them who is doing anything wrong by being beautiful and attractive but with such imbalance in our society it is smart to be…
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
… aware and awake. Men and women both go thru cycles of arousal. Men automatically are attracted to women of child bearing age….
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
…I want my daughters to understand this. I want them to be themselves and wear what they like, yet be aware. Not ignore our differences…
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
—Lifetime Casts Lead in New Aaliyah Movie – But Did They Get It Right?—
Males should be taught to be responsible for their actions from childhood. It's not ok to "prey" on young women…
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
…But do I think it is unnatural for a heterosexual male 2b attracted to a young woman in a revealing skirt? No. I think it is his nature..
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
…But do I think it is unnatural for a heterosexual male 2b attracted to a young woman in a revealing skirt? No. I think it is his nature..
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
..Consequently, we must all be aware and responsible.
We must protect our young women. We must teach our young men…— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
…if I had a school I would make sure that the uniform skirt length was a nice knee length… It is fair to everyone…
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
…if I had a school I would make sure that the uniform skirt length was a nice knee length… It is fair to everyone…
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
…young women you are beautiful. Young men you are beautiful. Protect one another.
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) April 12, 2016
To her credit, Badu has been actively responding to much of the criticism she’s received from Twitter users:
this implies the visual consumption of women is something that can be managed or distracted from by a hemline https://t.co/5yhVNLkfbk
— ceciATL (@ceciATL) April 12, 2016
sure if you could somehow desexualize young girls/women by lengthening their skirt then fine but thats not how that works, like at all
— ceciATL (@ceciATL) April 12, 2016
—Nixon’s ‘War on Drugs’ was Government-Sanctioned Terror on Black People—
Jill Scott defends Bill Cosby. Erykah Badu is on respectability politics. Up next, India.Arie tells us that jet fuel can't melt steel beams.
— Hey hey, daloy politsey! (@blunted215) April 12, 2016
https://twitter.com/AaronSmarter/status/719700427118239746
https://twitter.com/VikkieNotVicky/status/719693907290951680
Check out Badu’s timeline, she’s still replying to tweets as of Tuesday midday.