50 Women Who Called Out Sexist Things That Are Still Blatantly Accepted Interview
When faced with injustice, you generally have three ways how you can react. You can ignore it, keep your head down, and get on with your day without making any waves. You can try to be sneaky and make subtle 5D chess moves to outplay the situation to your own advantage. Or you can call the injustice out and shine a light on it for everyone to see, bold as brass, sometimes using humor to do it. That way, it’s harder to hide the injustice.
This list is about the times that women and men called out sexism and misogyny, as shared on the r/TrollXChromosomes subreddit. People from all walks of life, from everyday employees and parents to skilled professionals, confronted sexism on social media head-on to help everyone. Upvote the responses by these brave people that you agree with and let us know what you think in the comment section below.
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Too Many Of Us Have An Uncle Randy
I Agree
The r/TrollXChromosomes will be celebrating its 10th birthday on the last day of March. "We're currently in the middle of intensive planning for the 10th Cakeday celebrations. It'll be so much better than our 5th Cakeday shindig, folks will cry. But we can't tell you more than that, lest our plans are foiled," the moderators told Bored Panda when we reached out to them.
They’re also steadily moving toward the 1 million member mark. Currently, they’re at just over 802k, so consider joining them and giving them a boost. They post about a variety of topics. In their words, they’re a subreddit for “rage comics and other memes with a girly slant.”
However, this doesn’t change the fact that the subreddit is also home to some serious posts that show how deeply sexism is enrooted in our society. Even to this very day. And while sexism can be subtle and covert, it can also be very overt. One example of this is women getting harassed on the streets. So while it’s one thing to confront sexism online, it’s a whole other ball game when it’s done in real life.
This Hurts Deep Because It’s True
I’ve Never Heard This Explained So Succinctly (Credit Fu**k_patriarchy On Instagram)
Bored Panda spoke about how women should respond if they’re ever in a situation where they’re either being catcalled or openly harassed on the street with Emily May, the co-founder and the executive director of ‘Hollaback!’ The organization aims to end harassment in all of its forms.
May explained that women should always trust their instincts. “Listen to what your gut is telling you. There is no ‘right’ or ‘perfect’ response to harassment; however, studies show that having some kind of response (either in the moment or later) can reduce the trauma associated with harassment. If you decide to respond, do it for you.”
She said that it’s always all right to do nothing, smile, and keep walking. It’s always up to you to decide what’s right for you and if you want to confront your harassers. It’s always harder to do this in-person than behind the safety of your screen.
Yuuuuup
As An Extremely Gay Lady, I’d Like To Co-Sign The F**k Out Of This
As May put it in an interview with Bored Panda, your safety is the main priority. However, if you feel safe and choose to respond to your harassers, there are three main approaches that you can take: setting boundaries, engaging bystanders, and documenting the situation. Let’s go into detail about each approach.
“Set the Boundary. Tell the person harassing you exactly what you want them to do and why. Look them in the eye and denounce their behavior with a strong, clear voice. Many people prefer to name the behavior. For example, you can say, ‘Do not [what they’re doing], that’s harassment.’ You can also simply say ‘that is not okay’ or ‘don’t speak to me like that.’ Say what feels natural to you,” May from ‘Hollaback!’ explained.
Good Lesson
My friend told me she was so happy she is turning 40, because finally people have stopped with the baby questions, because now they think maybe she does not have kids because she is too old. And now she does not have do defend herself for not having kids. Jeez, why can't people just back off? Like, do people ask a women questions like that because they think they forgot to have kids and they need to be reminded?
Funny How Rarely This Comes Up With Christians
“The important thing is that you aren’t apologetic in your response, and that you don’t engage with them after you set the boundary. Oftentimes, people who harass may try to argue with you or dismiss you through further conversation or by making fun of you. As tempting as it may be to get into a verbal war with them, we don’t recommend it. The attention may further feed their abusive behavior and cause the situation to escalate. Once you’ve said your piece, keep it moving.”
The second approach is engaging bystanders by telling them what’s going on and what they can do to help you. “Not all bystanders have been trained to respond, but typically people do understand that street harassment is not okay and they want to help you, so what can you do to ask for that help? You will need to loudly announce to people around you what the harasser just said or did and identify them, like: ‘That man in the red shirt is following me. I need help!’” May explained.
I Want To Meet This Heroic Mystery Woman
Absolutely!! We don't even wear makeup or paint our nails to impress men. If there were no men in the world we would look exactly like we do now - but wear much less clothes....
She continued: “Then tell people what you want them to do, like, ‘Can you wait here with me? Can you call the police?’ Remember that it is okay to ask for help, it does not mean that you are weak, in fact, it means that you are strong because you’re acknowledging that street harassment, in fact, hurts.”
The Only Way To Get Republicans To Care About Black Lives
So many issues approached in just a dozen words. Clever girl.
The List Could Go On And On...
Try it with race too. "First White Astronaut", "First White President."
The third and final approach is documenting the situation. If you feel that you’re safe and not currently in danger, you can consider taking a picture or a video of your experience. Or you can ask a bystander to do so.
“This could include the person harassing you, their license plate, or the scene. Some people use photos or videos to report an incident—for example, if the person was at work when this happened people may choose to report it to their employer.”
May detailed: “Others use it to share their story on social media or anonymously through ihollaback.org. Many find it to be empowering to turn the lens off of them and onto the person harassing them. It often has the potential to be hugely transformative. If it feels right to you then do it. It doesn’t work that way for everyone so ask yourself, ‘Does it feel right for me?’ or ‘Is there another way to respond?’”
According to May, there is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ response to harassment: “There is no such thing as a perfect response, this is not your fault, and you are not alone. Take the time to recover and employ strategies for taking care of yourself.”
I Swear, The Audacity
One thing that you can do is to develop a ‘quick ritual’ to help you ‘shake off’ what happened every time that you get harassed. Having a friend that you contact when this occurs can also help. Sharing your story with the people you trust can be very powerful and healing. What’s more, affirming to yourself that you deserve better and that you won’t let ‘the haters’ get you down is another response.
“The idea here is that you want you to develop resilience so that you can get out there and keep being you in the world,” May told Bored Panda.
So Basically
My Boyfriend Didn’t Appreciate This One As Much As I Did
I’m a fan of poet Dylan Thomas’ lines: “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” While the context is important, you can interpret the words to mean that you should fight for what’s right instead of giving in to the pressure placed on you to stay quiet. Just remember that your safety is paramount: online and IRL.
It Never F**king Ends
Wow, they cry you didn’t like sports? I figured it would be a relief to many men who don’t like the pressure of having to enjoy sports when they don’t. I’ve never dated a guy who seriously cares about sports. That’s so cringe and middle America basic.
I look forward to my periods (kind of). I am either in a near death state of being, or I push myself at the gym to get through the things I hate at the same time. (Exercise is good for you. I can have a hate/love relationship with it.) EDIT: I have passed out, vomited, and were sent to the hospital from pms pains. For some odd reason, I push myself even more during “let the gates of hell open” week. I still got three tubs of ice cream.
"Women R So Emotional"
Yep
And The Sinister Version, "If She Has Boobs, She's Biologically Ready For Sex"
Girls Are Always Taught How To Stay Safe, It's Not As Common To Teach Boys To Not Create Unsafe Situations
Yes, Just Like That
Misogyny Running Deep
That is so 19th century mindset! What a shame some people in 21st century still hold on to that!
Unconstitutionality
I Don't Know Why This Made Me Laugh So Hard
Planned Parenthood caught my grandma's cervical cancer. She was over 60. She could afford the GYN there. The end. PP wins.
@Unpopular Opinion Chick.... Planned Parenthood doesn't do abortions. They do MEDICAL CARE. They risk their lives just going to work to help people with prenatal care, post-natal care, pregnancy tests, PAP smears, and pelvic exams. So... Hitler and PP are not comparable. One was a genocidal Austrian; the other is an organization of health clinics. BTW, PP also hasn't killed millions. Ending a pregnancy isn't murder until the 16th to 24th week, depending upon state law. You're welcome. Have a nice day.
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Unless you anti-choice a-holes are willing to make sure those babies you want to "save" will have access to affordable health care, housing, education, etc. all their lives, and that they will be able to get jobs and be paid at least a living wage, buzz off.
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600,000 women not dying from hemorrhage after trying to abort alone, at home. I guess it's more essential, yes.
Not to mention those who die in childbirth.
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I am literally exhausted at all the Church/State melting togetherness. I'm going to start quoting from my imaginary book, The Amazing Spider-Man, whenever religion comes up. Every time a new superhero movie comes out, I will proclaim it is the Sabbath and expect paid time off.
Anti-choice activists oppose measures that would prevent abortions in the first place, such as comprehensive sex education and better access to birth control. They are so obsessed with fetuses that they don't give a rat's a**e about life after birth.
That's why I am PRO LIFE... ALL life. Like women and teenagers and people. And that is why I support legal abortion. :-)
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When there are half a million orphans living in and out of foster care in the United States alone, making women give birth to unwanted babies is sickening. When the man can walk away and continue to live his dreams while the woman has to put her life on hold with a high chance of ever continuing down her road, forcing women to give up her dreams to have an unwanted baby is horrendous. When women's bodies contort out of shape, bones are possibly fractured and causing them to pee every time they sneeze, cough, laugh or just any physical activity for the rest of their life, making them do this to their bodies via an unwanted pregnancy is just plain mean. When forcing women to give birth to babies with severe defects who will more than likely die within the next day or so and causing extreme grief and possible suicide because she is not allowed to abort the fetus is cruel. NO ONE has the right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body. It's just that simple!!!
Every time I see/hear this argument, my first thought is always 'what are YOU going to do for all those babies?' You can't claim to care about 'protecting life' if your protection ends the second life exists the uterus.
@UnpopularChickOpinion well would ya look at that. You with probably no medical training whatsoever, and me, a doctor specializing in pregnancy and fetuses. Fetuses do not express emotions or thoughts and don’t even express their “life” (which is something they don’t have at this level anyway). Fetuses are only considered alive by trained doctors when they are on their 16th week. It’s hilarious to see these arguments by people who don’t have enough training to know anybody.
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This is a simple one. The pregnant woman is a US citizen and, therefore, has the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The fetus, OTOH, is not a citizen until it's born as an infant. You can't give a fetus rights at the expense of a citizen; it's illegal and unconstitutional.
That is absolutely terrible. I mean couldn't he at least have said it a different way? And Liz wasn't being disrespectful at all.
To me, this answer is crass and insensitive. I also want to respond to those who find the prolife/prochoice debate to be a simple, morally uncomplicated issue and suggests that anyone who disagrees with them is either amoral, uncaring or a moron. Let's start with compassion for the person across from you. Let's consider that they care deeply about this issue and may have been impacted on a person level. Maybe they have a family member with Downs Syndrome and can't fathom that some would choose to eliminate those pregnancies. Maybe they've had an abortion because they felt they had to and are racked with grief about the loss or struggling with how to feel about their decision for other reasons. This is a complicated issue that affects people deeply. Insulting another person's intelligence or character never made the world a better place.
So, who's going to care for these children? The girls and women who don't want them, cannot afford to feed and clothe them?
And you’d likely have the support in that debate of all of the women who rightfully received that healthcare.
"The US is singlulary bizarre for only giving rights to mother." No, the US is singularly bizarre for giving rights to religious men who even more bizarrely, get to say what ALL women should do with their bodies. Y'all Qaeda get closer to christian sharia every day.
No one says that a fetus isn't a human until it can survive on its own. What people say is that it's not a baby (which is correct) or it's not a person (which is correct). "Baby" is a defined stage of development. A fetus is not a baby. Those are two different stages of development. "Person" has multiple meanings, but in this context, is referring to the legal state of personhood. Personhood status confers any number of rights on said person. Fetuses are not persons. However, even if fetuses were persons, it would be irrelevant to the abortion debate. No person has the right to use another person's body against their will, even in life or death situations. Conferring personhood status on a fetus would only bring it on par with everyone else; it would still have no right to use the woman's body without her consent.
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If is healthcare because it is saving the woman’s life.
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But the entire point here is, it is absolutely no one's business what anyone else does with their body. Period.
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Or idiot conservatives. Keep your nose out of other peoples private parts. End of story.
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"Why Do They Say 'Women And Children First'? What About The Men? Why Is Society Anti-Men?"
Note: this post originally had 73 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
for the men who feel attacked or sad in the comments, I feel attacked and sad when I, a thirteen-year-old girl, get catcalled for wearing leggings or dress coded for "distracting the boys from their education by wearing a tank top in 100-degree weather". This society is so inherently sexist and when you say that people speaking out about their experiences is hurting your feelings, perhaps you are the issue.
Your country sounds like a horrible place.
I have a feeling she's from America based off my experience (I live in America too)
Beautifully put MadDawg. Honestly disappointed in some of the reactions from the fellas. As if the world w