Alli_Draggy
Wadjet's family
We were at the Repticon in Memphis today, and the local paper sent a reporter. The guy was pretty obviously scared of snakes, didn't want to be there, and couldn't understand why anyone would have herps as pets. My DD was one of the people who it was suggested he talk to-we were there with our herp ed group and she was selling toy snakes to benefit the group and talking to kids about her "My Little Python" blog. She was SO excited about getting a chance to share the message about snakes.
Well, the guy pretty much started out telling her that she shouldn't like snakes, and she got more and more flustered. One of his statements was "A Pretty girl like you should like puppies or kitties". I ended up pulling her away when she started tearing up.
She broke down at the booth, feeling that she'd totally blown any chance to defend snakes as pets or to teach people about the herp group or her blog.
He did come around to the booth later, and she was able to be more coherent. I think it helped that the other person in the booth besides us is a pretty big guy (and his rather large Peruvian Boa) who was more than willing to break the reporter in two if it was called for. I think she did a good job-but honestly, the guy was just plain insulting in either his ignorance or his assumption of HER ignorance (questions like "Do your snakes sleep with you" (Well, they're in my bedroom, but they're in their vivariums. They need their heating pads to thermoregulate and digest their food properly") and "Do you know what the three venomous snakes native to TN are" (Actually there are four, the Copperhead, cottonmouth or Water moccasin, Timber Rattlesnake, and the Western pygmy rattlesnake, although they're quite rare).
I commented in the car that I half wished she'd given him the scientific names, just to see his jaw drop, but Alli commented that she wasn't entirely sure how to pronounce them and didn't want to mess them up in front of people who actually know snakes.
I hope the article comes out halfway positive. Ugh...
Well, the guy pretty much started out telling her that she shouldn't like snakes, and she got more and more flustered. One of his statements was "A Pretty girl like you should like puppies or kitties". I ended up pulling her away when she started tearing up.
She broke down at the booth, feeling that she'd totally blown any chance to defend snakes as pets or to teach people about the herp group or her blog.
He did come around to the booth later, and she was able to be more coherent. I think it helped that the other person in the booth besides us is a pretty big guy (and his rather large Peruvian Boa) who was more than willing to break the reporter in two if it was called for. I think she did a good job-but honestly, the guy was just plain insulting in either his ignorance or his assumption of HER ignorance (questions like "Do your snakes sleep with you" (Well, they're in my bedroom, but they're in their vivariums. They need their heating pads to thermoregulate and digest their food properly") and "Do you know what the three venomous snakes native to TN are" (Actually there are four, the Copperhead, cottonmouth or Water moccasin, Timber Rattlesnake, and the Western pygmy rattlesnake, although they're quite rare).
I commented in the car that I half wished she'd given him the scientific names, just to see his jaw drop, but Alli commented that she wasn't entirely sure how to pronounce them and didn't want to mess them up in front of people who actually know snakes.
I hope the article comes out halfway positive. Ugh...
Good for your daughter. This might be a good lesson for her.