Something I tend to dislike about when celebrities become the "face" of these larger social conversations, is that the more famous they are (and if they're a minority? Chile...), the more they dwarf the larger conversation, and it becomes ABOUT them. We make it about the celebrity, and lose the fact that the celebrity is a person...oftentimes exhibiting largely accepted social attitudes, because fame or not they were raised on this same planet.
Like, do not mistake me as defending Shaq here, as I think his words deserve criticism. But there are a lot of people in this thread treating Shaq's comments as some uniquely toxic behavior he's displaying. And, frankly, I wanna know what version of Earth y'all were raised on because I want to be teleported there.
Because, the idea that girls stay home until they are married off; and boys leave the nest ASAP to build nests of their own is an idea as old as time and transcends any specific culture.
There's a reason why Shaq talks about his boys this way: because that was likely how he was raised.
There's a reason why he felt comfortable saying this in an interview: because he assumed (likely correctly) that most people hearing this would understand and sympathize with his viewpoint.
Most people will understand and sympathize with his viewpoint, because unfortunately this lopsided expectation we as a socieTEA have of boys versus girls (when it comes to self-reliance) is normalized.
Shaq likely believes that what he's saying about how he treats his boys is an example of good parenting; and we live in a society that will largely affirm that.
