design: Audrey Selsor
Being a woman in modern society can be overwhelming. “Influencers” impact younger viewers to see women in a certain way or little comments that are a result of misogyny over time are embedded in everyday life.
Throughout my life, I have been at the punch line of jokes, a surprise when I can do more than what is expected of me, and belittled. All because I am a woman; it is unacceptable.
Over the summer, former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate made a large presence online, largely for his views on how women should behave in society. He gained a large audience, mostly younger men, and the influence he has made has unfortunately shown.
In school conversations about whether others agree have taken place in the halls and in classrooms. Personally, hearing people agree with some of what he says is scary.
Many of his views are centered on older roles women played in society that we have moved past. Knowing that so many people think this too and have begun to embrace it is worrying; I don’t want my rights to be taken away.
“I think the women belong to the man,” Tate has said. As well as, “Women do certain things, and men do certain things. And we live in a world now where the whole idea of the roles has been conflated to the fact where if I come along and say women are better with children and men are better at fighting, I’m somehow sexist when it’s clearly true.”
Tate pushes more radical ideas that would take women back to times in the 1900s when women were unable to have jobs or to even vote. I’ve faced smaller bits of misogyny my whole life. Much of it happened while I was in elementary school and didn’t realize the impacts it left me until much later.
I was dress coded when I was 5 years old in kindergarten. I took off an uncomfortable short sleeve shirt over a tank top. In recent years, I’ve only started to feel comfortable wearing shirts like this again.
When I was in fifth grade PE class, my teacher came up to me to say the boys on another team were surprised I could throw a ball as well as I could. She meant it as a compliment, and I saw it as that at the time. However, now I see the expectation that because I was a girl I shouldn’t be athletic or even throw a ball. At the time, I played sports year-round; this was simply overlooked because I was a little girl.
Now, when I go on runs, I am warned not to have music playing in both ears, or at all. Women have to be weary of their surroundings at all times out of fear of becoming a part of another statistic.
I’ve been followed on walks with my dog, going up to my neighbor’s door for help because of my fear of what could happen next. People have banged on my car window trying to get me out. It is terrifying.
In early September, Tennessee teacher Eliza Fletcher was on a run and was kidnapped. Her body was found several days later according to the Memphis Police Department.
No matter if a slight sexist comment is made or an incident that could result in life or death is going to occur, the situations women go through just to live and be human will burden them for years to come. Society has shaped us to behave certain in ways and to take precautions that aren’t even thought of by men.
Unfortunately, this is not just a case for women. Other groups that are discriminated against face similar fears and comments at them all of the time. It is a universal problem that is fragile. Making the issues worse may happen in an instant.
Sexism and all other forms of discrimination are completely unacceptable. People should not need to worry for their lives because of who they are.
In order to fix these problems, we need to take away the platforms that influencers have to prevent sexist ways of thinking from spreading, and we must hold people accountable for their actions. No positive change will be made by sitting idly by, and continuing to allow discrimination against women to occur.
