In the era of high profile sexual harassment and assault against women, many folks have been encouraging women to stand up and speak out; to become the power that was taken away from them by abusive men with power over them.

A political ad by Brian Kemp, who is running for governor of Georgia, shows the candidate sitting down with a young man who wishes to take Kemp’s daughter out. Kemp is sitting next to the young man, holding a gun, and at the end, points the gun at him while saying “We’re gonna get along just fine.”

The ad is meant to be humorous but also appeal to gun owners. However, many liberals have reacted to the ad with disgust, claiming the ad shows Kemp treats his daughters like possessions rather than individuals.

In the current cultural climate we live in, I’m not sure that being a protective father is a bad thing.

With the #MeToo movement, claims of campus sexual assault and rape on the rise, and women still feeling in many areas that they don’t have equal power in relationships and elsewhere, I find it somewhat jarring that the idea of a father wanting to protect his daughter from many of those evils in the world is a bad thing.

Then again, my own father-in-law walked into the house one day with a pitchfork and told said to me “I wouldn’t give you the benefit of a gun.”

Anyway, sure the ad is meant in jest, and it plays to the stereotype of an overprotective dad. Yes, the dad makes the kid recite his campaign platform, but he also demands the kid respect his daughter. That seems like the opposite of rendering the daughter a mere object. It comes across to me as a father who wants any male suitor for his daughter to love and respect her as much as he does.

I don’t get the outrage. I’m sorry. Call it privilege, call it ignorance, call it whatever you like. I am damn sure not going to allow my daughters to leave the house with someone who doesn’t respect them.