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Since the mid-19th century, organized feminist movements in the United States have fought for women's political, economic, and cultural freedom. But as one current TikTok trend shows us, you can fight gender inequality even by yourself, as part of your everyday routine.

It started in January when user Molly Barrie uploaded a video, inviting people to share their "subtle feminist power moves" they do on the regular, and it wasn't long before the clip spread all over the platform. So since International Women's Day is right around the corner, we at Bored Panda thought it would be interesting to check out some of the most popular submissions.

#1

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism I work in a very male-dominated industry. It is not unusual for top executives to get very disrespectful or raise their voice in a meeting where they’re not getting their way without fail. Every time that happens, I hit them with ‘Oh, I’m just sensing that you’re getting very emotional right now, I think we should all take a five minute break to allow your time to get a hold of your feelings'.

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Mark Erwin
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm gay and I've deliberately said this to straight men and enjoy the look in their faces HAHAHAHAHA

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A century after the 19th Amendment was ratified in the United States, the Pew Research Center found that the majority of Americans (57%) say that the country has not gone far enough to give women equal rights with men.

Among those who think the country still has work to do in achieving gender equality, 77% highlight sexual harassment as a major obstacle to women having equal rights with men, 67% point to women not having the same legal rights as men, 66% aren't happy with different societal expectations for men and women, and 64% say not enough women are in positions of power.

To learn more about the things these women are going through, we contacted part-time project officer/part-time blogger and full-time feminist from England, Nyomi Winter.

"I noticed sexism most once I had children," the founder of the online magazine Nomipalony told Bored Panda. "The expectation that you will be primary carer whilst you try to maintain a career is really challenging. We aren't making nearly enough progress with the gender pay gap and in turn the pension pay gap. Workplace changes could make an enormous difference to equality."

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#2

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism In group social settings, when a man interrupts a woman, I don’t look at him. I continue to look at the woman he interrupted. Then I interrupt him and say ’Wait, what were you saying?’ to the woman. She always smiles.

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But even though feminist movements have attracted significant attention in Europe and North America in recent years, only fewer than one in five young women would call themselves a feminist, polling in the UK and US suggests.

It could be that they do not feel the term speaks to them or due to the stereotypes and misconceptions associated with feminism. ("Feminists don't wear makeup, they don't shave their legs, and they hate all boys.")

But Nyomi is happy with the direction the movement is going in; she believes that today's feminists are progressive and more intersectional than ever. "I'm so impressed by today's young feminists. We are more aware of 'white feminism' and I think the Black Lives Matters movement has really pushed the Global Ethnic Majority to the front of the conversation in the past couple of years."

#3

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism So I am a tall woman. I’m about 5'10, 5'11ish and if I’m going to be going into a meeting where I know that there’s going to be a man who’s going to try to speak over me or belittle me or throw his weight around, I will purposefully wear the largest heels, like the biggest heels that I have, which make me like 6'2, 6'3 so that I can stand next to them and look down on them and remind them that not only am I a match for you intellectually, but I could step on you.

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TikTok user Emily Tangerine is one of the people who responded to Molly with a video of her own. "I came across this trend on my 'For You' page," Emily told Bored Panda. "I follow a ton of women who are comedians and professionals in their respective fields and activists. So this prompt was surely going to come my way."

She thinks misogyny in today's society is a really complex system. "I'd say the most oppressive force of it that is visible is the legislation that directly targets women (but will surely affect those who don’t identify as female but have a uterus) and somehow it doesn't affect men," Emily said. "Like the Texas abortion ban. There is currently no legislation against men's bodies, yet we all know it takes two to tango."

However, Emily sees women's lives improving as the older generation of men who are trying to instigate these laws fade into oblivion. "I see more and more women enrolling in college and that's going to help the situation. And I see more and more women stand up for themselves in social situations. "I stood up to my old male professor just this Friday. Women aren't allowing men to treat them like dog shit anymore and that eventually leads to legislation. Heck, we might even get one more woman on the Supreme Court."

#4

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism I often claim that men don’t have arms. Hear me out. So I was having a conversation with a co-worker recently and she was talking about how she wanted her son to marry a woman who could cook. And I said ‘why?’ And she said ‘Well, he can’t cook’ And I said ‘Oh my God, does he not have arms?’ And then she was like ‘no, he’s just a man’ And I was like ‘But he has arms’ And then she just had to explain that he was going to depend on a woman to feed him for the rest of his existence with like, two whole arms. So yeah, men don’t have arms.

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Caro Caro
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's the parents fault. They should have raised him to be able to cook, clean and wipe his own ar$e !

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Sue Lynn Chan
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Kinda cringe on people saying men shouldn’t cook, like then how would men survive if there’s no women left on Earth?

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Mazer
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She failed her son. I know there are parents out there who think doing things for their kids is loving them, I think empowering kids by teaching them self sufficiency is more empowering. Girls to use tools from the garage etc, boys to use tools in the kitchen and cleaning cabinet etc.

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Everybody Say Love!
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I first entered the relationship with my partner, he couldn't cook AT ALL, not even boil an egg. I never held it against him, he can't be held responsible for not being taught by his parents and I guess his lack of motivation also stems from not being given the opportunity to learn. I'm not a fan of cooking with other people but it gave me great joy to slowly but surely teach him diiferent things: how to test doneness of meat, knife skills, cooking terms, how to identify different herbs from their aromas (his favourite thing to do now - he says Basil is the "meatiest of the herbs" which i totally get!) all sorts of things. With a little patience, time and effort, he has become a very proficient cook and I couldn't be more proud of him. Tonight is stuffed chickeen breast with sweet potato mash and roasted balsamic baby plum tomatoes. YUM!

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Sareaesque
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had the same with my partner, no confidence in his ability to cook, extremely picky eater. Not really the fault of his parents just a result of his food habits due to the both of them working extremely hard. I've managed to build up his courage and his palette so now he is the main cook in the house (due to me working longer hours, his palette being the limiting factor on meals we eat together, and to keep his confidence and experience building) and I'll meal-prep once a week food for myself I can work around what he cooks (due to allergens) and every so often I'll cook something to shake meals up a bit and get him to try something he hasn't had before.

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Donkey boi
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mam taught me to cook. My 3 sisters were not interested and as a result can't cook for shite. All 3 are married, one to a chef, One to a man with average cooking skills and the other to a guy that can't cook (they are almost single-handedly are responsible for all the local restaurants staying in business).

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Zuzanna Rzeszewska
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Remind me of an anecdote of my brother. It was a common saying in my family "yeah, but you have hands?" My little brother asked great grandmother to do something, and surely she responded, don't you have hands? And he went, I do, but they are just so tiny! Raising his hands in the air and looking at them 😂😂😂

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Dirk Daring
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A man who can't feed himself isn't much use for any damn thing else.

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Olga Aftyka
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is similar to what I do very often, when a man asks a woman to do something for him, I'm like "I can see you do have hands, they look fully functional, I was worried for a while, but you seem fine and you're welcome to >do whatever he wanted done<"

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TS Rhodes
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was chatting on the phone with my sister and explaining how we are getting along since my (male) roommate;s Industrial Accident. And she stopped and yelled to her husband "Jeff actually HAS a broken arm!"

dc1 avatar
DC
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That, I never got. I'm nowhere near a pro cook, but being a vegetarian required being able to cook in the beginning, and I really don't get how people can be incapable of cooking a pot of potatos and fry some vegetables. Not THAT hard...

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ZAPanda
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mom taught us to cook from about 10-11 years of age. I'm definitely the better cook of us. However, most men only know how to BBQ. I think in their brains BBQ = neanderthal hunt mammoth neanderthal eat mammoth. But anything other than that is somehow a threat to manhood. Fuckem.

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Jill Bussey
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And yet many well-known chefs are male! There's no excuse. If you can read, you can cook.

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Frankenfrog
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Women with internalised misogyny are even worse than the men

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Jo Choto
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you love your children, you will teach all of them, without exception, how to buy food and cook it, how to budget and pay bills, how to do laundry and housework.

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-
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One Christmas, when hubby and I were dating, my mother gave him a wok and a stern look that said, "I expect you to learn to use it".

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Brendan Roberts
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If your son doesn't know how to cook, you should have encouraged him to do so.

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Verena Abt
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Reminds me of my ex. I don't do ironing! I'm a bloke! So I had to do the ironing for the kids while he was unemployed and too precious for housework. (I had a full-time job)

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E Ripley
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I taught both my sons to cook, do their own laundry, pay their own bills, and take care of their own business. Now I have to intelligent educated self supporting men he's still looking at me like I'm the greatest girl in the whole world.

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Cass Malone
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My man actually CAN cook. He does it for a living and he's amazing at it.

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Lu Scho
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to say that to my bf "I don't cook/iron/clean with my breasts. I use my arms and LOOK!! you have arms too" Needless to say it is an ex and with my husband I never have to make such statements because he is not an a**e.

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Unnamed Hooman
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m going to sound pretty picky, but I hate cooking. Baking is fine, but decorating is my favourite part! Cooking is weird to me, I don’t want to burn myself or the food- and there are so many ways to do it wrong! So far, I know how to make pasta, hot dogs, rice, eggs, the basics. I just don’t like cooking.

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Ann Coffman
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And she's (the mother) the one who has enabled her son his whole life and brainwashed him into believing he is helpless and stupid. Shame on that poor man's mother ( I mean his MOMMY)

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Mayrene Chester
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Does he have special medical conditions? Is he intellectually slow? I will just keep pushing.

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buttonpusher
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My grandad couldn't even make toast. He relied on my granny to do it all. Then one time she went away for a few days and he stayed home. He phoned my parents to go there and feed him.

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BigFootToo
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've been cooking since junior high. Mom had to work nights, MAC wasn't enough. My wife can bake, that's good enough. Her mom is a great cook tho

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BoredHistorian
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I do this in all kind of scenarios.When people are obliged to explain their prejudices the stupidity becomes obvious.

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Denise Lewis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

mother need to take there little boys teach them how to cook do laundry and if possible make them do some baby sitting to also have some skills when they become fathers oh and house cleaning why is all this crap always put on our daughters

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Mistralok
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a professional chef. The overwhelming majority in our profession are men.

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Ann Coffman
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Which is mostly due to mysogynistic snobbery. So you can stop patting yourself on the back now.

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Eppe
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It may result in a bit of a mess but I always manage to feed myself with my clumsy man-arms.

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Dyson Fey
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can cook, but women typically do it better. So I defer to them. Women belong in the kitchen. Men belong in the kitchen. The kitchen has food, so everybody belongs in the kitchen🤣

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Paul Z.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most professional cooks and chefs are... yep 👨🏻‍🍳

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𝕮𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖊
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My parents never taught me how to cook. People act like it's the most disgusting thing ever ( including, and mostly, girls) like bruh

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Kanuli
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This stuff is wrong in both ways. Depending on the wife to cook always, but also the disrespect to think you know better how someone should arrange his life or marriage. Not saying you are wrong by default, but they have to discuss this, and choose/fight it. If she is fine with cooking, while he is at work 10h a day, it’s their choice. Doesn’t mean he should never have to cook, or help, but that too should be discussed by the couple, not bystanders, and even if you give input, it can be done in a respectful, civilised manner. To assume something, you know is most likely not true, just to bring out your point in a weird way is not what I would like to hear from friends.

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madbakes
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, the couple would have final say, but the point of this is that the mother is expecting her future daughter in law to cook rather than to have taught her son to be self sufficient.

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Thomas Biorogue
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2 years ago

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Women don't have arms either. I bet she won't unclog the toilet or unclog the shower drain full of her hair. Even though I bet she has two arms. Or kill a spider in the house, or change a flat tire or any of those "men" things. You see, it works both ways. I'm working on getting the most downvotes in a single day.

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"Sometimes [the situation] feels really bleak (like with the recent tragic murders of Sarah Everard, Bibaa Henry, Nicole Smallman, and Sabina Nessa)," Nyomi added. "But I do think that social media has opened up conversations that we just weren't having in the mainstream a decade ago."

"The Me Too Movement has led to real industry changes (including arrests). The movement following Sarah Evarard's murder led to an outpouring from women on social media the likes of which I've never seen. I wrote 20 actions men can take to be better allies to women at this time and it was one of my most-read posts that year. Yes, change is too slow but we have to have hope that it's coming and in the meantime, we keep fighting!"

And they're not the only optimists. More than eight-in-ten Americans who say that the country has not gone far enough to give women equal rights with men say this is very (31%) or somewhat likely (53%) in the future. Let's hope so!

#5

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism When I ran a preschool and a child would get sick and a parent would need to be called to come pick up their child, I called the dad, whether it was a two-parent household or co-parenting, whatever it was, I'd always call the father, and their first question was ‘Did you call their mom?’ And I would say either ‘no, I have not. I figured I’d call you first. What would you like to do? How soon can you be here?’ Most of them would get upset, or they were just inconvenienced by the fact that they would have to stop working to come get their child. After I would speak to the dad, I would call the moms and let them know ‘Hey, your child is sick. However, I got a hold of their dad and he's coming to get them.’ And the moms were generally in shock and surprised and I always got thanked because I didn’t interrupt their workday.

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Martha Goodridge-Kelly
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So close… but why call the mum after? I always get called first for my daughter illness and never once has my husband been called if they managed to get in touch with me. By calling the mum after you’re implying that the dad cannot deal with it and the mum still needs to be aware.

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#6

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism When I’m cat-called, and I feel safe to do so, I will respond in one of two ways. I’ll either look at my phone and tell them what time it is to make them think I thought they asked me what time it was, or I say ‘sorry, I don’t have any change’ to make them think that I thought that they were asking me for money.

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#7

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism This is my favorite thing to do. Whenever someone references a man who was a genius or a top of his field, I’m like ‘OK, I got it. So he’s like the Serena Williams of like bankers or financers’ or whatever the field is. And it’s even better if he’s an athlete.

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#8

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism I used to work in the call center for an airline and when people would call in to do a seat assignment for their families like mom, dad and two kids, I would always put the dad with the two kids because of course, it’s only three seats. And then I would put the mom across the aisle so she could sit by herself and dad would have to look after the kids during the flight.

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Caro Caro
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

LOL. Sorry, this made me laugh and it's the only response I can think off hahaha.

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#9

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism I do this constantly. I’ve been doing it for years. It actually bothers my boyfriend whenever we go out because he doesn’t understand why I do it until I explain it to him. I never move out of the way. I will let a man walk into me before I move because they are so used to just not interrupting their time and just to proceed forward and keep moving until they’re in my line. And I just keep walking. I’ve been shoulder checked. I’ve been everything, but I’m like 'If you’re not moving, I’m not moving'. Haven’t moved for a man in years.

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Jiminy
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yep, I do that too. But to be fair, these days it's mostly men with a certain patriarchic background who walk straight forward, not the majority. Most move, and then I move too.

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#10

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism I learned this from my older brother, who is a very intimidating attorney and has been my hero for most of my life. We’re taught, especially as women, that when we’re listening to somebody, we do active listening, right? You’re nodding, you’re raising your eyebrows, you’re tilting your head, you’re showing them ‘I’m warm, I’m open, I’m receiving you’. The best medicine for when somebody is talking at you or talking down to you is - stop it. The only thing you have to do to show somebody that you’re listening to them is to just stare them. Dead in the face. They don’t like it, especially with stillness. Don’t like it.

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#11

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism So I’ve stated on my TikTok before that I’m an axe throwing instructor and I’ve been doing it for a couple of years, right? My favorite type of men that come to the venue are the ones who bring their dates or their girlfriends to show off that they are so good at doing a manly activity because axe throwing is such a manly activity and that, you know, they have the expectation by default because they’re a man, they’re going to be so good at this, right? But come inside range, who is the one that is getting bull’s eyes? Who is the one that is consistently getting it on the board? Who is the one that listened to every single one of my instructions? That’s right. The Valkyrie, the woman. I love her. Proud of her. Then you got buddy boy on this side who cannot get it on the board for the life of him because he hasn’t listened to any of my instructions because he didn’t acknowledge my presence as an axe throwing instructor. And he’s getting so upset that he is not getting it on the board and that's adding onto the fact that she is getting it on the board more than he is. And I see how fragile the ego is. So what do I do? I make it worse. I make it worse. I no longer acknowledge baby boy over here. I go to the star of the show, the Valkyrie, and I’m giving her all the praises that she deserves, in which I’m like ‘Yes, you are so good at this for your first time. Are you sure this is your first time? I’m so impressed’ and which is all true. And then I’d be like ‘You know, you should totally join our league. I think you’d thrive in it’, which is also true. And I love it. I love it. I loved rubbing it in his face.

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De Gueb
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to play a lot of darts in a pub. O a slow weekday the waitress joined us. She was amazing, she could beet all of us. So we got her to play on our team!! She was a little short Romanian girl in her 20's but looks 16. You should have seen the guys when she stated throwing!! we won a couple of local tournaments. Having better people in your team makes the whole team improve.

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#12

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism I have repeatedly been asked to take notes during meetings and then distribute them afterwards. It’s not my job. So I started just not taking anything into the meeting, no paper, no pen, no computer, my cell phone, but I would normally keep it in my lap so that people didn’t know I had my cell phone with me. And then if I needed to remember something or if there was like an important date, I could use my phone to mark it. But I didn’t let people see me taking notes on it. And what I realized is that men don’t ask other men to take notes. It was only when I had paper in front of me that somebody would be asked to take notes. Otherwise they seem totally capable of remembering what happens in the meeting.

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Not Proud British
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never noticed this before but you are right, I have never seen a man take notes, but plenty of women volunteer to do so or are 'voluntold' to be the note-taker.

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#13

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism Every time I create a signing session for any of my married couples buying or selling their house, I always make the wife the first signer.

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#14

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism I don’t believe in cohabitation with men. I have a wonderful long-term partner who is arguably a better person than I am. And we don’t live together and we’ll never live together. And I try to talk about this whenever it comes up because I want women to know that there’s other alternatives. You don’t have to live with men. You don’t. You can have wonderful long-term relationships. There are other options. At this stage in the game I just feel like we all still have too much patriarchal conditioning to have balanced domestic situations. I think it’s still almost pretty much most of the time short end of the stick for women to live with men.

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Foxxy (The Original)
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Might work if your child free otherwise it's just more complicated, especially for young children.

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#15

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism As a feminine-presenting person who does not shave their body hair, I get my fair share of unsolicited comments from men about my body. The best response I’ve discovered to them is to just look at them dead in the face and say ‘Did you mean to say that out loud?’ Most of the time they’ll just squirm and not have anything to offer up, but on the rare occasions they do follow up with something stupid, I just let them know how stupid they are by saying ‘Ok, big guy’.

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Jaguarundi
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't shave my legs because it's annoying to do and it freakin' ITCHES! If you don't like it, don't look and keep yourself to yourself please and thank you.

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#16

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism This isn’t subtle, but I do it regularly. About 10 years ago, I was twenty-two years old and a freshly graduated college student in my very first office job, and my supervisor’s name was Rob. At the time, I was still identifying as a woman. Today I’m trans non-binary, and I know that back then when I was dressing really feminine, like aggressively feminine, it was because I was in denial and I was trying to assert my femininity when I knew deep down, it didn’t fit me. I’ve always been tall, like in the 5'9 range and height is not considered a very feminine trait. And so I was very insecure about my height. And that made it kind of difficult when Rob, very early on in my tenure at this place, came up to me and said ‘Hey, you need to start wearing heels to work’. I was wearing flats because guess what? I walk like a baby giraffe in heels. But I did, as he said, and I got a pair of heels. And at our next meeting, I walked in, toddled in wearing them, and Rob looked me up and Rob looked me down and Rob realized with horror, oh no, the office girl is his height. Almost exactly. Suddenly, I went from being the cute little feminine office girl to, I guess, a physical threat because I was his height. This was a miscalculation on Rob’s part, obviously, but it could not go unchallenged because then, from then on, every time I entered the room, he made sure I was sitting down and he was standing up. If he entered the room when I was standing, he would somehow get me to sit down, offer me a chair, whatever. If I came into his office to talk, he would make me sit down and then he would stand up and sit on the edge of his desk. So he was kind of looming over me. And it was really clear that he was intimidated by my physical presence and did not like the fact that I was that tall. But also he wants to look at the cute office girl in heels. And I thought this was f**king ridiculous. I’m uncomfortable in these shoes. You’re uncomfortable with me in these shoes. And yet here you are, making sure you’re always the dominant physical presence, this is exhausting. What’s wrong with you? I’m proud of twenty-two-year-old me for being able to recognize that something about the situation was wrong, because what twenty-two-year-old me did, I’m still proud of to this day. I marched myself down to the shoe store and I bought the tallest heels I could find that were still workplace appropriate. I mean, I’m talking like a pair of designer heels with a big old platform under the toe and a very tall stiletto heels. Totally workplace appropriate. But Jesus Christ, I was like six three. Rob did not like the fact that I was now even taller than him. Not one bit. So one day I’m at my desk adjusting my shoe and he sidles up, sees me doing it, and that’s his moment, he says ’You know you don’t have to wear those shoes anymore if you don’t want to. You can go back to flats. It’s fine. Just a suggestion, only if you want to. Did I go back to flats, though? Not on your life. The heels stayed, and now I’m actually pretty good at walking in them, thanks to Rob, despite coming out as non-binary, now I know most of the world looks at me and immediately thinks ‘Woman’. And you know what? That’s honestly on them. But what I carry with me from that experience to this day is when I know I’m going to walk into a room and be underestimated, I rock those heels. Suck it, Rob.

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#17

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism So I got three. So if a man ever interrupts me, I let him finish. Go for it. I don’t want to interrupt you because it’s not polite. And as soon as he finishes, I go ‘So as I was saying’ and just continue because my point was still valid, and I’ll also do this like if another woman is interrupted, I’ll be like ‘So as you were saying’. The next one is - I will not step out of the way of someone. You don’t own this world any more than I do. I’m going to keep walking with shoulders high, eyes forward. If you shoulder check me, that’s on you. I also will not apologize. This last one, this is where the subtlety kind of goes out the window. I handle all of the home projects for our house. My husband is just there to lift heavy stuff and look cute. But there have been a lot of times where we’ve been working with someone, and I will be asking the questions and they will be looking at my husband as if he’s talking. So I’ll just step in front of my husband until I have eye contact and then I’ll keep speaking.

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zububonsai
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How do you know my man and me? ☺️ He looks like a rock (Tom Hardy as Mad Max but a bit bulkier), speaks as much as Mad Max, looking cute as hell. He chops the wood, repairs everything electric, buys and carries all the groceries/shopping and brings the child from school and being a fantastic dad to all of his children. (He is very soft/pacifistic/non-violent summer flower, while I'm the combative Krav Maga girl). and I do like all the rest, manage all the appointments and dates, paint the flat... "His bouquet of flowers is the daily chopped wood basket."

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#18

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism When a man is not nice to a non-man in my gym, I will follow him around and do his entire workout. But I’ll add 20 to 100 pounds to whatever it is that he’s doing. I’ll also make sure that he knows that he can just leave the bar loaded because I’m probably just going to warm up with that weight, even if I didn’t intend to do the workout on that day. I follow him around and I embarrass him. If he’s rude to one of my homies. Pushes me a little harder than I’m used to. And also just, you know, makes me feel better about myself. So party on.

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#19

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism See now how in a lot of structures in our society, male is the default setting for a lot of people, like when you say ‘Oh, that doctor, that lawyer, that whatever,’ people just kind of assume that they’re male. When I started realizing this, I was like, ‘That’s stupid, it shouldn’t be the default setting’. Clearly, all of these professions are filled with women, so any time I refer to someone in a place of power or a position of a career, I automatically gender it female. ‘Oh, have I told you about how great my orthodontist is now?’, ’How is she? Do you like her?’

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Brendan Roberts
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm ashamed to admit that, if someone is speaking about a professional person, I assume the person is male. In fact, my wife does the same. I think it's been ingrained into us.

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#20

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism The first one is that whenever I’m addressing an envelope to a couple, I always put the woman’s name before the man’s name. The second one is that as an elementary school music teacher, sometimes in the classroom, I’ll need chairs or tables moved. And so I always ask, I need strong students to move this for me, and I always pick 50 percent or more girls, because girls are strong.

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Martha Meyer
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That last one is so important. Just a couple years I heard "I need some strong men to carry those tables" from a second grade teacher. Way to reinforce stupid stereotypes.

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#21

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism Whenever I’m talking to a man and he says something about me that he like, doesn’t like, like something I’m wearing or like something that I do, or it’s something that somebody else does, specifically another woman, if he’s like ‘Oh, I don’t like when girls wear heels’ or ‘I don’t like girls that lift weights’, you know, something like that, I always just look at him and go ‘Oh, that’s OK’. And I always get the weirdest little looks because it’s subtle enough that he doesn’t want to get into an argument about it or defend himself about it. But it’s powerful enough that it makes them think about what he just said. You know what I mean? We’re not doing it for you, but it’s OK.

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Susie Elle
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My first tendency whenever someone says "I don't like girls who do this or that or wear so and so" is to IMMEDIATELY go and do exactly what they just said they didn't like. It goes both ways, I also hate it when people/women say "I don't like it when men~"

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#22

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism When somebody tells me a story involving another person, as long as it is in a positive light, I assume ‘she’ is her pronouns. If a friend of mine says ‘I went to the doctor and got some really good news’ I’ll respond with ’Oh, what did she say? Or if somebody says ‘My kid’s principal did this really cool thing at the school the other day’ ‘Oh, that’s awesome. Good for her.’ Always assume ‘she/her’ pronouns, no matter what. As long as it’s positive.

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Leslie
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Try a gender neutral one, don't alienate all males. Like 'They', Assuming it's female is also sexist, assuming it's male is also sexist.

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#23

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism Well, I work in the business world, corporate America specifically, and I have a pretty intense job that I work with a lot of men with. And growing up, my dad always told me, because he worked in corporate America, to have a super firm handshake. I noticed when I was in corporate America that men would always try to shake my hand just a little bit harder than I was. Shaking theirs to kind of assert a little bit of physical dominance over me. So now, whenever I shake a guy’s hand that I’m meeting in a business meeting, a new CEO, whatever it may be, I shake their hand for about two milliseconds, gauge how hard they’re shaking my hand and then I administer just a little bit more pressure than they have asserted upon me. And every single time.

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Allan Miller
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I prefer a fist bump, both for personal hygiene and because I have neuropathic pain in my hands. But I understand why you do this. I have had people (mostly men) shake my hand not firmly but hard, and it hurts.

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#24

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism Whenever I feel like I’m dealing with a man who thinks he’s way cooler than me or smarter than me or whatever, he’s super arrogant, I have two tactics. The first tactic is when they are telling me THE fact, I feel like you know what I mean, every arrogant guy has THE fact. He busts out whether it’s about music or a movie or something that he thinks makes them sound really intelligent and cultured. Whenever they tell me this fact, I just respond with ‘Are you sure about that?’ And when they’re like ’Yeah, I’m sure, like, what do you mean am I sure, why?’ I just say ‘No reason, continue. It’s fine’. The second one is whenever they’re telling me about an idea they have that I can tell makes them feel way smarter than everybody else, I just go ’Do you tell people this? Like… Often?’

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#25

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism As a woman bartender, I do have a few of these stored up my sleeve. And one of my favorites is when a man is ordering his beer in like an aggressively manly way, right? Because there’s a difference between 'Hi, can I get a Bud Light?’ And 'yeah, give me a beer and a glass. Whatever. A Bud Light, I don’t put it in a glass. I’ll drink it.’ Oh man, Blah blah. Right? So when that type of guy orders his drink and he’s just really proving he’s a man I love responding with 'oh yeah, cute drink' or 'oh yeah, you’re fancy. Let me grab that for you' or 'oh love, here you go' Or if it’s Bud Light specifically 'oh yes, a rice beer, you got it' It leaves him feeling rattled. I’ll tell you that.

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Brendan Roberts
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why do men think that beer is a manly drink and wine is "girly"? Are they not aware that wine is two-three times stronger in alcohol?

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#26

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism So let me preface this with my husband who loves me very much, and he’s very proud of the things I’ve accomplished. But because I have a doctorate, the formal way to address anything to us is this. So this is the formal and correct way to address us as Dr. and Mr. And you can see it there on that one too. So anyways, I saved these because I just love it and I’m proud of myself for it. But some of his friends have caught on to it too. And we’ll just get like random Christmas cards or whatever addressed like that too. So it’s all in good fun. He loves it, deep down.

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lisac72 avatar
Not Proud British
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still get letters addressed to Mr & Mrs and I hate it. I refuse to open them. I did not lose my entire name or identity when I got married and if they do not have the courtesy to address a letter to me by name, then they do not deserve my attention.

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#27

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism I don’t know if this is a feminist power move or not, but it certainly is a great tip. If you are a woman with a lot of male-dominated hobbies or you find yourself having a lot in common with men, you can accidentally interact with really toxic men. But I do have a foolproof method of getting those men to show themselves early on when you’re getting to know him. If he points out that you guys have a lot in common say ‘Yeah, we do. What’s your star sign?’ He’ll react one of three ways, he’ll either say ‘Actually, I don’t really know’ and just tell you his birthday. Green flag. If he just answers the question - green flag. If he goes on a rant telling you how stupid that star thing is and he can’t believe someone like you like something like that - boo. Red Flag. A man worth your time will at least have the decency to be respectful to you, even if you don’t have exactly the same hobbies. You don’t even have to like astrology for this to work. It could be any girly thing.

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lisac72 avatar
Not Proud British
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tbf if someone asked me what my star sign was, I wouldn't tell them. Not to be disrespectful but I wouldn't want them thinking I believed that crap and neither would I want to give them the green light to start telling me what they believe my personality is based on a friggin' star sign.

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#28

Women Share 28 Subtle Power Moves They Do To Spread Feminism When I ask a man a question, as soon as he answers me, I say ‘Are you sure?’ And then I google it right in front of them. I address all correspondence to married people as Mrs. and Mr. Cameron Clyne. If a man tells me he’s interested in a topic, I say something really obvious about that topic and then pretend I’m teaching him some kind of state secret. I always frame acknowledgement of a man’s accomplishments through the lens of being surprised he was competent enough to do it. I encroach on men’s personal space in public and pretend I’m oblivious to the situation. If I see a man doing something, I approach him and ask ‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ If a man asks me to do something for him, I ask him to start the task for me, and then I ask him for really obvious help at every stage of the task. And when the task is finished, I act like I’ve done the entire thing myself and I expect praise. When a man tries to interrupt me while I’m busy and make me listen to him, I finish what I’m doing. When I stop, I make eye contact with him and confidently say ‘I was busy, so I wasn’t listening to you’. You’re going to need to repeat yourself. I don’t say ‘thank you’ to compliments from men. I just agree with them. I use the word ‘no’ as a full sentence. And then when a man asks me to justify why I said no, I say that sentence again. When I greet a couple, I make eye contact with and greet the woman first and begin speaking to her. And I will not address the man or make eye contact with him or even acknowledge him unless he’s introduced to me. I won’t offer men help unless they ask and then I act like I don’t want to do it and I get up and help, but I complain the whole time and make the entire task really unpleasant for everybody. When a couple has a baby, I assume the father is going to quit his job to stay home and raise it. I introduce men as so-and-so’s boyfriend, so and so’s son always in relation to the woman that I know closest to them. Never addressed, here’s John. I’m sorry, sir, did the middle of my sentence barge in on the beginning of yours again? In any situation where you would typically say ’Ladies and gentlemen, I just say ‘ladies’, I only give men thoughtless generic gifts, and if they don’t like it, I act like they’re ungrateful. I like to invalidate a man’s feelings by pretending I’m too incompetent to understand them. When men get upset, I tell them that they’re not capable of rational or logical thought while they’re so emotional and to talk to me again when they’re calm and in control of themselves. I tell men that their college degrees don’t actually make them an expert in their field.

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Anyone-for-tea?
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't get this one, why act like a toxic man? Not everyone is comfortable in social situations and they may forget to introduce people to others, or feel awkward. I'm sure I'm in a minority if I say I've had lessons on how to make introductions!

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