Erykah Badu accused of victim-blaming after saying girls should wear longer skirts

 

Singer-songwriter Erykah Badu has been accused of victim-blaming after saying girls should wear knee length skirts to stop distracting men. Read more below.

45-year-old, Erykah Abi Wright, has stirred something of a backlash on social media, Twitter, with users accusing the singer of victim-blaming. Badu, who had a child with Andres 3000 in 1997, said that teenage girls should wear longer knee length skirts to protect them from the “natural” desires of men. She also added that men are attracted to children from child-bearing age. Her argument goes something like this: “we live in a society that sexualises young women’s bodies; it is natural for men, including male teachers) to find young women attractive; to protect young women from men, we need to make them aware of this and they need to wear less revealing clothing to make it easier for men. As The Cut noted, it’s the “don’t tempt the boys argument”.

Tweeting in response to an article on a New Zealand high school that is making girls wear longer skirts so as not to “distract” the male teachers, Badu says she agrees with the policy and gives an 11-tweet explanation why.

“There was an article ruling that high school girls lower their skirts so male teachers are not distracted. I agreed because…” she began on Twitter. “I am aware that we live in a sex -driven society. It is everyone’s, male and female’s, responsibility to protect young ladies…”

Badu came under fire for her comments on Twitter, with some users arguing that the singer has defended men’s right to be sexually attracted to teenage girls.

“Asking girls to be aware of how human sexuality works is not clamping their style. They must know what is provocative behaviour,” wrote one user.

“Erykah Badu perpetuating rape culture by saying girls should cover up to prevent male distraction is making me want to regurgitate,” wrote another.

“Erykah Badu just went on an entire rant about how men being attracted to young women is ok because “it is his nature,” I’m so done,” wrote another

“If you cannot see that Erykah Badu basically victim blamed girls and normalized male sexuality towards young girls, delete yourself,” wrote another