A father verbally annihilated the trolls who left hateful comments on his social media post that proudly featured his two daughters wearing homecoming dresses.
When Matt Austin, a Florida news anchor and TikToker @flnewsman, posted what he thought were "innocuous photos" of his daughters "looking beautiful for homecoming" on Facebook, he was shocked at the negative reactions appearing in the comments.
Some of the criticisms he received were:
"Honest, I would not let them go anywhere dressed like that!"
And:
"I don't think I would be dressed like that around my father and he would be okay with that, it's crazy!"
"And I'm from the Caribbean those girls are too young to be dressed provocatively they should have respect for themselves."
The photo showed the proud dad flanked by his two daughters, both of whom were wearing strapless, shoulder-baring dresses in pink and black, respectively.
The dresses are a common sartorial choice among many female high school students attending homecoming, according to the commenters who saw no issues with what they were wearing.
Here is a screenshot from the TikTok video that went viral.
@flnewsman/TikTok
The biggest gripe Austin has as a father of two girls is when other adults give unsolicited advice like, "Oh these girls need to dress so they don't distract the boys."
But he said the worst is when they say things like:
"Oh, they're dressing in a way in which they're 'asking for it.'"
In response, Austin set the record straight by stressing that the problem didn't lie with him and his daughters.
He emphatically proclaimed:
“Let’s get something crystal clear now. It’s not my daughter’s job to make sure your son is focused in school."
"Also not her job to dress hideous enough to where your son doesn’t assault her. It’s your job to not raise a pervert with no self-control.”
You can watch the TikTok video, here.
Fathers are traditionally known to be strict and overly protective of their teen daughters about what they wear for fear of eliciting untoward attention from guys.
Austin showed his humorous side by admitting he would rather have his daughters wearing "Snuggies 24/7" to go out in instead of the dresses seen in the photo.
However, there's a reason for his willingness to bend the rules in 2022.
He said that if he routinely started dictating what his daughters should or shouldn't wear, they'll start to resent him for "arbitrary rules."
He also feared that exerting too much authority or control over their manner of dress might force them to start lying to him.
Or maybe even worse, he was concerned "That it's okay for a man to tell them what to wear because they look too good, and that ain't happenin' Karen," he said, addressing any member of the fashion police giving their unsolicited two cents.
A good majority of TikTokers lauded him for the masterful takedown of his critics.
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Mothers who have sons also subscribed to his point of view.
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Austin concluded his video by sharing what would really disappoint him, which is:
"If my girls grew up to be the kind of adult that goes on social media and demeans a teen's appearance on her father's Facebook page."
He left with one final word to describe that kind of behavior.
"Trashy."
And, mic drop.
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@evanrachelwood/Instagram