It seemed like a perfectly timed message for girls as the #MeToo movement picked up steam.
“Reminder,” read a headline on the Girl Scouts Facebook page late last year. “She Doesn’t Owe Anyone a Hug. Not Even at the Holidays.”
But the reaction was stunning .
“You have gone overboard,” blasted one commenter among the hundreds of fiery responses to the November post. “One, no one MAKES a child give a hug. Two, don’t assume physical affection leads to negative behavior.”
Countered another, “It’s about teaching a kid that her body is HERS, even from a young age.”
Who would have thought that hugging could trigger so much ire? After all, America today is a nation of huggers, clutching each other every chance we get. We hug to say hello, hug to say goodbye. Presidents hug. Total strangers hug. It’s harmless, right? More than that — it’s a sign that we’re open. That we’re caring.
But now we have #MeToo. And it turns out that not everyone needs a hug.
The Girl Scout dust-up exposed a deep national division — and not about the future of the republic.
On one side of the gulf stand those who wonder why it has suddenly become so wrong to wrap your arms around another person — like, say, a co-worker — and hold them in a warm embrace.
On the other are those who want to know: Why in the world did anyone ever think it was right?