A day in the life of a woman is vastly different than a man. Social interactions can become offensive or dangerous in a matter of seconds, whereas a man might not face this problem on a day to day basis. Women have been subconsciously trained to shrug off everyday sexism, because having to confront it at every turn would be exhausting and risky. In the piece “The Thing All Women Do That You Don't Know About" by Gretchen Kelly, the realities of womanhood are brought to light. Not only for our male counterparts to better understand, but for some women to wake up to the fact they they might not even realize it themselves.
“We have all learned, either by instinct or by trial and error, how to minimize a situation that makes us uncomfortable. How to avoid angering a man or endangering ourselves. We have all, on many occasions, ignored an offensive comment. We’ve all laughed off an inappropriate come-on. We’ve all swallowed our anger when being belittled or condescended to.”
Women are so powerful, so much more powerful than we give ourselves credit for...than the world gives us credit for. But we have to dim this light and this power so often because there could be terrible consequences if we don’t. Countless instances have occurred, and only considering western society here, where a woman’s “no” has resulted in a violent retaliation from a man. So we go about it by “minimizing” and “de-escalating,” giving him a fake phone number, a fake smile, or scurrying away in fear with our pepper spray in hand. Majority of men are threatened by a powerful woman and their fragile egos can’t take “no” for an answer. This leads to violence, misogyny and the perpetuation of rape culture and sexism.
“It’s the reality of being a woman in our world. It’s laughing off sexism because we felt we had no other option.”
It’s time to stop ignoring this. When we have a candidate running for president that regularly participates in sexism and misogyny, it’s time to wake up. When things like this leaked video of Trump talking about sexual assault and groping women is written off as “locker room talk” by himself and multiple political pundits it’s likely because men don’t understand a woman’s reality.
“...men can’t be expected to understand how pervasive everyday sexism is if we don’t start telling them and pointing to it when it happens.”
Donald Trump has had far too many chances to realize what sexism is and how to prevent it, yet he has failed time and again. But we still need to point out sexism and make it part of the conversation with other men in our lives. We are agents in articulating how we should be treated, so don’t shrug it off anymore.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gretchen-kelly/the-thing-all-women-do-you-dont-know-about_b_8630416.html
Tying this article to Trump's scandal is really adept. The comments hit home for so many women because of the daily care women must take to avoid unwanted advances from men--an irrational yet rational fear women deal with on a daily basis. Good work.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of hegemonic masculinity is deeply ingrained in the social fabric of America and other western nations. The very fact that a misogynistic orange-tinged lump of a person was elected to the highest office in the land just goes to show how far our nation still has to come. Men and women have to fight for women's rights and equality because feminism by women for women just isn't cutting it. Men have to realize that misogyny is outdated and that women should not have to shrug off sexism or even deal with it in the first place. We're better than that.
ReplyDeleteEducation is the first step in the fight against misogyny. If we are to destroy institutional sexism, we need to let men know that their prejudice is not acceptable.
ReplyDeleteWomen should not feel obliged to "brush off sexism." Society should recognize the obstacles women face everyday and try to fix them.
The government needs to do a better job at demonizing sexual assault and characterizing it as an unacceptable act. The fact that so many men don't see sexism and sexual assault as a serious issue is a urgent problem.
If we want to live in a just society, we cannot normalize gender discrimination. We must fight against sexual oppression and try to create a society where all gender identities are welcome.
I agree with Dara, education is the first step in battling any issue, not simply sexism and misogyny. By constantly brushing things off and not engaging in the conversations, women are doing a disservice to themselves. However, the danger is also a crucial facet and cannot be belittled. These conversations must be had, but in safe places where nobody is at risk. Figuring out how to do that would get a lot of progressive dialogue rolling.
ReplyDelete