Kristine Delacourt
30.8K posts
The concept of "teenager" is a modern invention. For most of human history, a boy of 13 was already a man, apprenticed in a trade or fighting in a war. George Washington was a professional surveyor at 16. Alexander Hamilton managed a trading company at 14. In medieval Europe, noble boys could be pages at 7 and squires by 14. In Rome, a boy put on the "toga of manhood" at 14. The idea that an 18 year-old is "still figuring things out" would have been incomprehensible to our ancestors. I believe this is why we think teenagers are so troubled. They are men and women stuck in a society that treats them as children. Of course they are going to "rebel". We should give them more responsibility and expect much more of them.
Imane Khelif robbed women of their Olympic medals and the @iocmedia endangered women's lives. After Khelif "won" the bout with Angela Carini - as the audience chanted his name - Carini said, "Non è giusto!" or "It's not fair!" She knew he was a man by the force of his blows. Algeria should be punished. And the women who had to box a man at the Olympics deserve more than a formal apology.
