Recently, I have been reflecting on things that I either hated or was made fun of for liking. With this reflection has come with wondering why these things were hated by me and/or my peers. Looking back, there was no actual reason to hate these things, yet I still did. I realized it had everything to do with the fact that the patriarchy decided that these things deserved to be hated.
- Megan Fox
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Megan Fox was fairly popular during the mid-2000s due to the “Transformers” franchise. After these movies, she did various interviews about her time during “Transformers.” She talked about the mistreatment she received from a young age. She was sexualized as a teenager by Hollywood and the men working in Hollywood. She also detailed how prominent film director Michael Bay exploited her prior to “Transformers.” When she was 15, he put her in heels and a bikini and positioned in her a sexual position. After this interview, she was fired from “Transformers 3” and blackballed from Hollywood. Before the #MeToo movement happened, Megan was speaking out and Hollywood retaliated.
- The Color Pink
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In middle and high school, the color pink received some major hate. It was seen as too girly, and girls and guys were shamed for liking and wearing the color pink. I remember rejecting this color because I did not want to be deemed too feminine and weak. This thought process implies that being girly and feminine is inherently weak and something to be ashamed of. There is absolutely no reason for people to hate a color just because it is seen as feminine. Femininity and things associated with that should not be hated purely based on that association.
- Monica Lewinsky
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Most people know who Monica Lewinsky is, but if you don’t, she is the girl that cost Bill Clinton his presidency and rightfully so. She was an intern, fresh out of college, at the White House during Clinton’s presidency. He had a history of seducing, and using his position of power to have sexual relations with young women, and Lewinsky was no exception. She was 21, and he was 49 when the affair started. The age difference is a clear power imbalance in and of itself without bringing in the fact she was an intern, and he was the President of the United States. She outed the president, with proof, as a serial seducer and cheater, and then she was bashed by the media because she was a woman bringing down a powerful man who was previously deemed untouchable.
- Romantic Comedies
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Romantic comedies, or otherwise known as chick-flicks, is something that has always been admittedly been hated on. For some reason, having movies about romantic interests is cheesy and unrealistic, and yet, action movies are worth the watch. This goes for all media, whether that be movies, TV shows, books, etc. A lot of entertainment is not supposed to be uber-realistic. It is supposed to be an escape from reality. Romantic comedies do just that. I don’t get why anything that has a romantic plotline at the center is automatically deemed not worth the time.
- Attractive Women
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Whenever I see a woman who is attractive, I automatically hate her. Why? Because the patriarchal society taught me that women are not my friends but my competitors for the male gaze. I am still unlearning this idea that has been deeply ingrained into my thought process. There is no logical reason to hate someone you know nothing about except for the way they look. We should be lifting each other up rather than tearing each other down.
Obviously, everyone’s experience with internalized misogyny is different. Everything on this list are things I feel like need to be addressed especially now. Internalized misogyny is dangerous because it has women degrading other women or feminine things. It is important to address this issue and reverse this way of thinking.