He Took His Niece To A Tea Party That Was Meant For Only Women And Girls, And He Got Side-Eyed The Entire Time And Torn Apart On Social Media Afterward
This 25-year-old man has two sisters and six female cousins, all of whom are younger than him.
He has grown up totally accustomed to being surrounded by girls and young women of varying ages.
All his life, he has respected women and valued equality.
Plus, he’s been protective of his cousins and sisters and helped them when they needed support.
As of late, his wife’s sister, Rachel, who is in her late 20s, has been going through some tough times lately, and his wife’s family is doing their best to be there for her.
This includes lending a hand and taking care of Rachel’s daughter, Elle, 7.
Recently, Rachel needed to get some work done around the house, so his in-laws agreed to have Elle over at their house for dinner.
He and his wife went over to his in-laws’ house for dinner, too.
During dinner, Elle was telling them about a tea party that she and Rachel were going to the following day, and she was really looking forward to it. Elle couldn’t stop talking about it.
JenkoAtaman – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual people
The next day, Rachel sent a message in the family’s group chat and asked if anyone was available to take Elle to the tea party, explaining that she couldn’t go because she felt ill.
Everyone in the chat was unable to go because they were working, but he didn’t have to work that day, so he offered to take Elle to the tea party.
“So, I asked her for the information, picked up Elle, and took her. The event flyer on the door said it was for girls and their moms, grandmas, aunts, godmothers, etc. When I got there, I explained I was standing in for her mother, and I asked if I could stay and participate with Elle. They said yes, but I know I was side-eyed the whole time,” he said.
But he was relieved that they allowed him into the event, which was held at a small cafe, so he was glad that Elle was able to enjoy the tea party. There were about 10 to 15 women total at the party.
One other man was at the event (a cafe employee who made the snacks). He’s seen this man previously when he’s gone to this cafe.
He and Elle drank tea together, colored some pictures, and participated in other fun activities.
“At the end, each girl got to take a picture with their adult person, which was supposed to be posted on their social media later on, so I took a picture with Elle. The next day, I went onto the group page (I had to request access) to get the picture to send to Rachel. I wasn’t posted with the others. I couldn’t figure out who to message, so I left a comment that said, ‘Can I please get the picture of me and my niece? Thanks,'” he explained.
Rachel hadn’t known that the event was women-and-girls-only. She had heard about the tea party because someone told her about it, and he only realized that men weren’t allowed when he and his niece were waiting at the door and he saw the flyer.
When he didn’t receive a response, he checked the group’s social media page once more.
He was shocked to see that someone who was at the event wrote a post about how uneasy they felt about a man being at the tea party.
Several people commented in agreement, making offensive remarks about him, and there were between 40 and 50 comments total on the post.
One person wrote a comment about how he was at the tea party so that he could “‘mansplain'” at a moment’s notice.
“Other comments were expressing anger that I wasn’t asked to leave, with one person even saying the police should have been called. The thread was eventually locked and deleted. I haven’t looked since. I do not know any of these people. I spoke to maybe one person there, and there were more comments than there were even people in attendance,” he shared.
Understandably stunned by the reaction to him attending the tea party with Elle, he told his wife about the social media post and comments.
Now, he’s wondering if it was wrong for him to have attended the tea party.
While he understands that men weren’t allowed, he didn’t know if it would have been a better option to have turned around and left with Elle after driving her all the way to the event once he saw the flyer stating that the event was only for women and girls. Elle would have been crushed if she couldn’t have been able to go to the tea party.
He’s debating on advising Rachel against allowing Elle to go to another event held by this group.
Rachel isn’t part of this group since she only heard about the event from someone, but he’s worried that if Elle goes to another party, someone will ask her if she’s “safe” or make another rude comment.
Do you think he was wrong for attending the tea party with Elle?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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