What ever happened to the good-ole days when men said things like: “Let me get that for you,” “Hello, how are you?” or “My name is…”
Today it’s more like: “What’s up boo?” “Hey, Lil’ mama!” “Yo baby!” or “What-they-do?”
What has happened to the male species, especially the males in our generation? What are they evolving into?
Some people say rap music is the reason young men approach females in ill-mannered ways.
Others have said that men’s manners may have been tampered with by social issues from early childhood. For instance, if a young man is from a family where there’s no father figure, he might turn to his friends or, for our generation, music to look up to.
Who knows why some guys act the way they act? But what I do know is that we have to look at ourselves, too, ladies, to find the root of the problem. We might be a big factor in their actions.
Men can’t handle rejection these days, for some reason. I think that’s why they approach us the way they do. They feel like there’s no reason to treat us with respect because we might shoot them down anyway. Some guys on campus are not about to let down their guards for a woman who might turn them down.
Ladies, this is where we see a guy trying to talk to us and when we reject him, he goes off and calls us all kinds of names in front of his friends.
They say things like, “You’re not all that anyway.” If we weren’t all that, why did they follow us for a mile and ask a million questions like they work for the FBI?
I agree that rap music may be the cause of this disrespectful attitude in our young men today. Rap artists make it seem that any bit of being sensitive will make them look “soft,” “pie” or “square,” as the old folks used to say. In our generation rap/hip-hop is a big thing to some men. Our culture identifies with these artists and looks at them like role models.
This is why they try to act out what they see on TV. These days it seems to be all about being accepted by our peers. Guys have to talk and walk a certain way because if they don’t they will get laughed at. The way they treat women is another way to get and receive acceptance. If a young man is dedicated to one girl, his “so-called” friends might make fun of him and call him “sprung,” “whipped” or a “sucker for love.”
So ladies, the next time you and a dude approach a door at the same time, just wait to see if he will open the door first. And fellas, next time you feel the urge to approach a girl, don’t be afraid of rejection because that’s a part of life. Instead, approach her like Luther Vandross would do and say: “Excuse me miss, what’s your name?”
Angela Pitts is a senior public relations student from Miami. She can be reached at uniquia1namil@yahoo.com.