Recently, I was waiting for my boyfriend to finish gassing up his truck so I could follow him home. While I was waiting, I got out of my car to retrieve my sunglasses out of the back of my car. I started to feel like I was being watched and noticed two guys watching me as I got my sunglasses and got back in my car. I still could feel their eyes on me, so I busied myself on my phone and locked my doors. As they drove by to leave, I could hear them yelling at me. Luckily, I felt pretty safe because my boyfriend and his dad were nearby and had watched everything that happened, so I knew they were there to back me up, but it still bothered me.

Why is it that some guys think it’s okay to treat girls like that? This is not the first time this has happened. I have been at the mall before and a guy has actually tried to grab my butt as he walked by. Luckily, I saw it about to happen and swatted his hand away. Why on earth would someone think that would be okay to do? What happened to respect?

I believe that this has been brought down by generation. Kids take examples from their parents and use them as their role models. If they see their father treating their mother as less than respectful, then they will most likely do that to other girls around them. I believe this is a big factor in today’s society. It has become okay for guys to whistle at girls when they drive by or yell crude things at them. This is not how women nor anyone should be treated! It is extremely disrespectful.

I also believe much of this has come from Hollywood. In the movies, it is often considered cool for guys to treat girls badly, and for them to still be able to get the girl. They always sweep the girl of their feet, and everyone thinks “aww that’s cute”. But if you look more closely, it isn’t always that romantic. For example, in Grease, Danny treats Sandy nicely when it is just them together, but when he is with his friends, he treats her like she means nothing to him. That is because it is portrayed that this is how to be cool. In real life, it is no longer cool to be sweet and caring to your girl around your friends. If guys really want to get a laugh out of their friends, they can make some rude comment to girlfriends or make fun of them and many of the guys will think that it is just hilarious.

In Ephesians 5:25-27 NIV it says “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy or blameless.” Jesus actually tells husbands to submit to their wives and love them like Christ loves us. God never intended for women to be less than to their husbands. They should be equal partners working towards an amazing relationship with God at the center. I believe that is how God has intended it. This is the basis for how men should treat women. If men continue to treat women that are complete strangers as an object to disrespect, when will they switch to respect? It doesn’t seem likely that it will begin to change once they start a serious relationship with a girl.

Hollywood is certainly partially to blame for this problem, but it also resides with females that tolerate the disrespect. Ladies- we have got to get some higher standards. Don’t act like it is okay for guys to treat you like that. If they are in any way rude to you- alone or with his friends around, then they need to hit the road. It is easy to fall into the trap of, “well he loves me, he doesn’t mean it”. But he does mean it. If he treats you like that around his friends, do you really think that that will change? If you’re married way down the road, how will he act around you when he’s mad at you or when times are difficult? Do you really want to find out? Don’t put up with the crap. If you show guys that it is okay to treat you like that, then they will continue to do it until it becomes normal. Make your standards very clear to guys so they understand what you expect. Show them that you expect nothing less than the utmost respect and kindness if you are to start a relationship. But on the flipside, don’t think you can change guys. You can’t change people. Believe it or not, there are good guys out there that will treat you right; you just may have to be patient to find one. All I’m saying is don’t settle. Don’t let yourself be treated as “less than”.

So with all this being said, let’s do something about this problem. I hate being a girl in today’s society and I’m sure I’m not the only one, so let’s bring back respect and acting like a gentleman to girls. Girls, let's get some higher standards and show guys how to treat girls right. Let’s bring back knights in shining armor and teach boys to grow up into gentleMEN.