The Untold Truth About Women

TW: sexual assault 

Living in a patriarchal society, women are consistently shut down for everything and many unknowingly feed into this ideology, manifesting itself as internal misogyny. This is the untold truth about women. Even the most common interests of liking beauty and fashion can be seen as “too girly” but if a woman does not care for those interests, she is labeled as a “pick me” girl. In more serious cases, sexual assault cases are the epitome of women being shut down for anything and everything. Women continue to be pitted against their assaulter without a chance of not receiving any justice. We have seen this countless times in our social circles as well as in our government. The infamous sexual assault case for Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court in 2018 sparked an outrage from a majority of women but had no use when Kavanaugh was confirmed. To many, it felt like a slap in the face—that our voices and our trauma did not matter.

It’s the thinly disguised misogyny and then further perpetuates the common stereotypes about women for me. Thus, this is why we need to start believing women and believing victims for that matter. Here are a couple of reasons why women are stronger than we ought to believe:

Women have to go through the most unwarranted pains during our periods—don’t forget the pain while giving birth. We are expected to put on a facade every time we are on our periods and hide our internal bloodbath to fulfill society’s norms of performing well in the workplace and making sure that we’re not “too emotional”. Therefore, it continues the cycle of gender inequity in the workspace, as it demonstrates that women cannot handle business due to emotions getting in the way of work. 

Women have to constantly be alert about potential dangers while walking on the streets alone at night—a very different story from our male counterparts. We are always told to walk with someone else, preferably a man. We are always told to be aware of how we dress in front of men because if we are showing “too much skin,” it’s essentially an invitation to be catcalled or have an even worse encounter. Why do you think women go to the bathroom together? Even in school, young girls are taught to learn that their bodies are seen as objects when they choose to wear certain clothes and are already sexualized before their teachers and male classmates. This idea to reprimand young girls for the way they dress continues to reinforce the sexist perceptions of women vs. men and needs to be unlearned.  

I can’t help but wonder about all of the different facets of life that subliminally undermine women. As I continue to grow into my own in this life as a woman, I do not know if I will ever possess the privilege my male counterparts attain so easily. But what I do know is that the strongest people I look up to are women who have and are fighting the good fight, one step at a time.

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