Post written by: DM
Is there a place for a Christian dad to get physical in addressing sexual harrassment in the life of his daughter?
I know from reading the blog that several of your readers still are working through various types of abuse and it is such a relevant topic given the state of our culture today. I have a slightly different perspective on the whole thing and wrote about it yesterday after coming home for lunch and hearing about something that happened w/ one of my daughters. I am a Christian dad. (I’m 49) ..when I was 21 the lights came on for me spiritually…I am not just a religious person but had a genuine conversion experience…in my case, there was a “before” and “after”… I say all of that to preface what I wanted to say next.
Nothing prepared me as a Christian dad for the times my daughters have been sexually harassed (and in one case physically assaulted)…..it takes ALOT to get me angry….I mean alot, and this is one of those things that will set me off. I know it says in Romans to not return evil for evil…rather leave it to God who will in the ultimate sense repay the wrong doer…. but as a father of 3 beautiful young ladies,(27,25,21) there is still a part of me that would get in someone’s face and even hurt them if it came to that, if things got testy. I know that doesn’ sound very mature as a Christian. And yet, Sometimes I think there is just a little too much doormat in our understanding of the Christian’s response to evil….could we open it up to further discussion. ?
Here is my story:
I am a dad to 3 beautiful daughers. They have all grown up and moved out, the oldest is home this week visiting with our granddaughter. Today for the 7th time in my life I got wind that someone had sexually harassed one of them. It takes a lot to get me angry, and this is one of those situations. As she was coming to our house , a semi driver driving a fuel tanker began to honk and attempt to get her attention. At first she (my daugher) thought there was something wrong w/ her car and he was trying to get her attention. She tried to pass and he sped up the truck so she decided to get behind him at which point, he started to slow down….this went on for several minutes until she finally got to her exit….he was still honking and making gestures as he continued on. I asked her if she knew the name of the trucking company..yep, it is _ _ _ _ _..the name was on the mudflaps. …so, armed with that information, I got onto the internet, typed in the name of the company, found their website and e-mailed them this note:
To Whom it may concern, Today is July 19 2007. I just got home for lunch to the news that my 27 yr old daughter was “propositioned” by one of your fuel truck drivers as he was driving North on Hwy *** between A. and B . she said that as she was passing him (it is a divided highway) he honked at her and continued to indicate something was up. She thought maybe there was something wrong w/ her car and he was signing her to pull over….This went on for several minutes. She slowed down but eventually decided just to pass him. As she did, he made a gesture which she took to mean he wanted sex. she had out of state plates so it probably looked like she was traveling across country. I’m not sure how easy it would be to identify who the driver was, but she said it was a semi fuel truck w/**** mudflaps. Needless to say, as her dad I would like to give the trucker a piece of my mind. My daughter also was carrying my grandchiid in the car with her and the whole thing shook her (my daugher up) Any thing you can do to address this situation would be appreciated. DM
The other 6 situations all make my bloodpressure rise if I allow myself to dwell on them. In 4 of the other situations where the girls were harassed I took the bull by the horns and confronted someone. A 5th situation resulted in a trip to an emergency room and a call to the police. In the 6th case, we didn’t do anything because of various circumstances….but nothing prepares you as a dad for this sort of thing….nothing….Anyway, this is not one of those “upbeat” positive thinking posts as much as me needing to vent………..I’m HOPING the trucking company will in fact track down the driver and he and I get to have an eyeball to eyeball visit before it’s all done.
What do you think? What should a father do?
Link to the original writing: http://hearttoheart.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/when-sexual-harassment-comes-knocking/
