Soul star Erykah Badu has come under fire after making a stand on the “appropriate” skirt length for teen girls in school.
The On & On singer took to Twitter on Monday night to share her thoughts on a recent ruling by governors at a strict New Zealand school, who insisted girls wear their uniform skirts below the knees in order to prevent distraction from male students and teachers. Erykah, who is mum to two daughters Puma, 11, and Mars, 7, agreed with the school officials’ decision, and wrote a lengthy post on the microblogging site to explain why.
“I agree because I am aware that we live in a sex-driven society,” she wrote. “It is everyone’s, male and female’s, responsibility to protect young ladies. One way to protect youth is to remind them we are all sexual in nature and as they grow and develop it is natural to attract men. It is not them who is doing anything wrong by being beautiful and attractive (sic), but with such imbalance in our society it is smart to be aware and awake. ”
“Men and women both go thru (through) cycles of arousal. Men automatically are attracted to women of child bearing age. I want my daughters to understand this. I want them to be themselves and wear what they like, yet be aware. Not ignore our differences.”
She continued, “Males should be taught to be responsible for their actions from childhood. It’s not OK to ‘prey’ on young women. But do I think it is unnatural for a heterosexual male to be attracted to a young woman in a revealing skirt? No. I think it is his nature.”
Shortly after posting the essay, Erykah received a barrage of tweets from followers who disagreed with her stance, with one fan writing, “Erykah Badu perpetuating rape culture by saying girls should cover up to prevent male distraction is making me want to regurgitate.”
Another wrote, “Had to unfollow Erykah Badu for that nonsense she was tweeting. Don’t make young girls responsible for older men’s actions.” But while she was upsetting followers on Twitter, Erykah also took steps to mend a broken relationship on Tuesday, when she reached out to former rival, rapper Azealia Banks.
Last February, the two engaged in an online feud after Erykah said she “tried” to listen to Banks’ music, to which the 212 star fired back with nasty comments, but they appeared to be friends again when Erykah reached out to Azealia on Tuesday, writing, “sis. 1 thing I know 4sho (for sure) about YOU is that you r an advocate 4 your folks. For that I humbly apologize.”
Azealia accepted the apology and responded, “Ok I accept, and unblocked. I grew up on your music and you got my mother thru lots of heartbreak and pain… was very taken aback and hurt when u threw me shade. I’m glad it’s over now. My mother will be happy about this. and i apologize for all the stupid things I said in response. I honestly look up to you and think your incredible (sic).”
This article was written by WENN Newsdesk from WENN and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
