Tampa Bay Bucs Quarterback Jameis Winston visited a group of elementary students, and he had some bizarre advice for the young girls in the room.
Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston was scheduled Wednesday to visit a group of third and fifth graders at the Melrose Elementary School in St. Petersburg. But what was supposed to be a 40-minute meet and greet with Winston delivering a message of hope went horribly wrong.
The Tampa Bay Times columnist, Tom Jones, was the first to break the news of Winston’s remarks.
"“Now a lot of boys aren’t supposed to be soft-spoken. You know what I’m saying? One day y’all are going to have a very deep voice like this (in deep voice). One day, you’ll have a very, very deep voice.”"
Thanks to Tampa Bay Times here’s a video of his interaction with the students, and it makes it all the more cringe worthy.
Great job of foster gender stereotypes there Winston. Not all men will have deep voices when they grow up, and that doesn’t make them any less of a man. While his flippant remark to these young suggestible boys gets an eye roll from many but it’s nothing that couldn’t be walked back with a well-worded apology. It’s his advice to girls is that has people infuriated.
"“But the ladies, they’re supposed to be silent, polite, gentle. My men, my men (are) supposed to be strong. I want y’all to tell me what the third rule of life is: I can do anything I put my mind to. Scream it!”"
Yes, he really said that to a bunch of impressionable elementary students. Ladies are supposed to be silent while the man can be strong, powerful and loud.
Not long after Winston made his comments, he was finding himself walking them back–as if the damage to impressionable children just be undone with shrug.
"“During my talk, I used a poor word choice that may have overshadowed that positive message for some.”"
I want it noted this is not an apology. At no time did he try to walk back his comments or say that women shouldn’t be “silent, polite and gentle.” The only logical conclusion for us to come to for the lack of apology is because he actually believes in these outdated gender roles.
In an effort to be fair, James might not have meant his words to come out like that, but at the same time, we cannot ignore his history. Before getting drafted by the Tampa Bay Bucs, he was named as the perpetrator of two sexual assault cases while he played at Florida State University. He was never formally charged for the rapes but there was significant evidence that FSU and the police conspire to stop the investigation to protect the football program. For someone who is trying to rehab his image showing people
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For the naysayers in the back that will eventually say people are making a bigger deal out of this than we should. At the end of Winston’s speech, a young student turned to her speech language pathologist, Bonnie Volland and said, “I’m strong too.”
Tell us in the comments what you think of Jameis Winston’s comments.