"Little girls" in police cases: am I the only one who gets annoyed by this?

[teela brown]

I'm remembering now that the family of Trayvon Martin referred to him as a "baby".

[Mewl Dear]

Originally Posted by BigT

I don't understand anyone who thinks you shouldn't get mad about things that don't affect you personally. It's called caring about other people. If all you care about is you and your own, you're the one with the problem. Heck, such a lack of empathy is the main symptom of a few mental disorders.

And if that fails to move you, how about this: If you disallow getting angry about things that happen to other people, you have no civil rights movement. You have no abolition of slavery. You have no one giving a shit about the Holocaust. Every movement to advance mankind doesn't happen because everyone is too busy only caring about what affects them.

The entire world depends on the ability of people to get mad for other people. Stop acting like it's somehow an insult for someone to care about how something makes someone else feel.

BigT in da house.
:throws both middle fingers in the air:

[Ulf the Unwashed]

A PA I know, female, who works for a urologist mentioned to me that she was shocked at the number of "little girls" who came to her with urinary tract infections.

"Little girls?" I said. "Really? How old?"

I was imaging 7, 8, maybe 10.

"Nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, about that," she said.

Not what I would've thought of as "little girls" either.

[jtgain]

Originally Posted by Maiira

On the other hand, I know that if I had been in her position, I certainly would've FELT like a little girl...scared, helpless, and vulnerable.

This. Usually you see a 15 year old girl, even your daughter, as a maturing young woman. But when she has been kidnapped, and probably helpless, you can't help but think about how young and frightened she probably is. You concentrate on her youth and the fact that she is more of a child than an adult at that point.

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by jtgain

This. Usually you see a 15 year old girl, even your daughter, as a maturing young woman. But when she has been kidnapped, and probably helpless, you can't help but think about how young and frightened she probably is. You concentrate on her youth and the fact that she is more of a child than an adult at that point.

Yes, but like I keep asking: would you have a similar thought if a 15-year-old boy was kidnapped? If you would, then you're not the subject of my OP. Clarifying again: my issue isn't with calling them "little girls," but rather calling them "little girls" while not also calling boys "little boys."

I can certainly understand why someone (especially someone who's a parent, even if the teen in question isn't their own child) would think of a kidnapped teenager as young and vulnerable and feel particular protective toward them. I never had any misunderstanding of that.

The posters who mentioned Trayvon Martin had a good point. He was the first male I've heard of where they referred to him using this sort of infantilizing language.

[MacCat]

Originally Posted by Infovore

The posters who mentioned Trayvon Martin had a good point. He was the first male I've heard of where they referred to him using this sort of infantilizing language.

I've heard plenty over the years of both boys and girls inappropriately called little, but girls more so.

Coincidentally as I opened and was reading this thread, I heard my wife say "Why are they calling her a little girl?" The local news was talking about a fifteen year old who was suspended for an anti bullying video she created for a school project.

I also get annoyed when an abusive or murderous parent is referred to as a Mom or Dad. To me, they may be a mother or father but they are not a Mom or Dad. They don't deserve the name and it cheapens it for the real ones.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by Maiira

I was at a lecture about the Katie Poirier murder case a few years ago, and the speaker talked about "the fear that little girl must have been feeling" as her abductor drove away with her in his car. She was 19 when she was murdered.

On the one hand, yeah, that's mildly annoying.

On the other hand, I know that if I had been in her position, I certainly would've FELT like a little girl...scared, helpless, and vulnerable.

But I remember having been a little girl, and for most of the time that I was a little girl, I didn't feel scared, helpless or vulnerable.

Being scared, helpless and vulnerable doesn't make people 3'-tall and give them vaginas if they don't happen to have one, Being 3'-tall and female doesn't make you scared, helpless and vulnerable.

[elbows]

Um, I hate to ask this, but I just have to. How big was this girl? Was she, in fact, little?

I have been little all my life. Little is an adjective. And girls, get abducted more because they tend to be easier to nab. Largely because they are littler.

She is a girl at 15yrs. Has anyone bothered to establish if she is little or not.

Maybe make sure you're understanding the full context, before getting all bent. And of all the things in this story, there are plenty that deserve outrage, the choice of the word little, seems a petty one to choose, in my opinion.

[jtgain]

Originally Posted by Infovore

Yes, but like I keep asking: would you have a similar thought if a 15-year-old boy was kidnapped? If you would, then you're not the subject of my OP. Clarifying again: my issue isn't with calling them "little girls," but rather calling them "little girls" while not also calling boys "little boys."

Speaking as a father, girls are special. You teach your sons to be men. Your daughter will be your "little girl" if she's 45 years old and weighs 300 pounds.

So, it's not surprising that the sheriff can relate to what the parents are feeling. I would bet you a sawbuck that he has a "little girl."

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by Infovore

Yes, but like I keep asking: would you have a similar thought if a 15-year-old boy was kidnapped? If you would, then you're not the subject of my OP. Clarifying again: my issue isn't with calling them "little girls," but rather calling them "little girls" while not also calling boys "little boys."

I can't off the top of my head remember ever seeing/hearing any news coverage of a kidnapping case involving a teen boy, so I have no idea whether they're referred to as "little boys" any more or less often than kidnapped teen girls are called "little girls". While I'm sure teen boys are kidnapped, the only high profile teen kidnapping cases springing to mind had female victims (e.g. Elizabeth Smart). Maybe girls are kidnapped far more often, or attract far more media attention when they are, and that's why you don't hear teen boys who were kidnapped being called "little boys" very often.

[faithfool]

This is a pet peeve of mine also. I'd venture a guess, that in cases like these, the biggest reaction (as has already been suggested) they're trying to provoke is an emotional one of protection. That said, you also see this anytime it's being used in a derogatory sense (IE: Miley Cyrus is still a 'little girl' dressing like a slut!) and it's all about infantalizing them. Considering we're a society that likes our labels, I'll never understand why 'teenager' isn't a good enough term for a person aged between 13 and 19. It has always infuriated me (hyperbole alert!) when others (excluding their parents, an issue best taken up with them) refer to them as children, or boys and girls, especially when they are over 18 and the media / law correctly calls them adults.

So, no, you're not alone. And I say this as a 44 year old step-mom to a 24 year old man. Go figure.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

Originally Posted by Doug K.

You must not know any fathers.

This reminds me of that admittedly outdated adage that says your son is your son till he takes him a wife, but a daughter's your daughter to the end of your life. I think this only goes to show that there's still some patriarchal cultural baggage with regard to female adolescents; but on the other hand it's arguable that a fifteen-year-old girl is likely to be more vulnerable than a fifteen-year-old boy, in a very real sense. Fathers of daughters that age do worry a lot more, I'm sure.

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by jtgain

Speaking as a father, girls are special. You teach your sons to be men. Your daughter will be your "little girl" if she's 45 years old and weighs 300 pounds.

I readily admit that this is my own baggage, but I find this highly offensive. I understand it, and understand how as a father you'd feel that way, but if I were your daughter and you ever told me anything like that, I'd be quite annoyed. I've always prided myself on being independent, competent, and not desirous of any sort of special treatment or consideration simply because I was born female. Why can't we teach our sons to be men and our daughters to be women, not try to keep them as "little girls"?

*Sigh*...I know, it's rhetorical. And I'm not knocking you for how you feel. But I'm very glad you're not my dad. I think we'd clash a lot.

So, it's not surprising that the sheriff can relate to what the parents are feeling. I would bet you a sawbuck that he has a "little girl."

Well, depending on how stringent the terms of the bet were, you'd lose. The sheriff is female.