Subtle Sexism

With each year that goes by, I notice more often how little our declining society cares about its people. I learn more about the deterioration of our environment, the corruption of the government and the sexism hidden behind seemingly harmless conversations.

“Females always get upset over nothing.”

“Why do girls go to parties if they have boyfriends? They know how guys are.”

“She’s wearing so much makeup. Who’s she trying to impress?”

The list goes on and on. It’s as if women are designed to be a pleasure for men, and anything they do otherwise is unnecessary and problematic. This doesn’t even include the discrimination the LGBTQ community or women of color experience on a daily basis.

Going through life hearing things like this so often is frustrating.It almost seems normal to be treated this way and talked down to. Being called pet names or ridiculed about how you look weighs on you day after day until you finally say “enough.”

If someone insults you, there are two options. Either let them say what they want, or stand up for yourself. If you don’t say anything in opposition, what’s going to stop them from continuing?  If you stand up to them, however, then you risk being the stereotypical woman in hysterics who can’t take a joke.

You could tell someone in the kindest, most patient way possible that even if they don’t mean to sound sexist, that’s the nature of their comments. But in the end you’re still met with “females always get upset over nothing.”

Sexism has been so integrated in our society that it doesn’t seem like it exists anymore.  It’s 2019, however, and we haven’t had a female president yet. Women are still fighting for their reproductive rights. Only 0.5 percent of rapists face prison time. Even though women count for half the number of moviegoers, it is rare to see a movie with a female director; only one—Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2008)— has ever won an Academy Award for Best Director in the 91 years they have been on air.

These are just a few examples of how absent women are in important roles and how mistreated they are in the government system. Sexism exists in our everyday lives, amongst celebrities and everyday people. In a country with a tremendous amount of privilege, we cannot let things like this go. We cannot accept mediocrity. We have to speak up for feminism and equality. We have to speak up together.

“[W]hen I’m sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say ‘when there are nine.’ People are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.” -Ruth Bader Ginsburg