You’ve heard the rumors about feminists, the “Man-Haters”.
But the worst is when anti-feminists begin to discredit real issues, for example, the pay gap.
According to the US Census Bureau women earn 78-cents to the white mans dollar, and this is just white women. It becomes less and less through the races.
In case you are having issues visualizing this, take a look at this data provided by salary research company pay scale.
Let’s look at how this works out in some other cases.
This chart comes from the research organization AAUW.
This is a graph from the US Bureau of Labor.
At this point you may think, “yeah, but like, women take maternity leave and don’t get into as many high paying industries.”
Even if all of these factors were taken away, women would still only make between 93-95% of what men would, according to CONSAD’s analysis. Sexism at its finest, folks.
So yeah, unless us “man haters” control the government and world-renowned research organizations, it’s a pretty real thing.
As a young girl when a boy would pick on me on the playground I was told it was just because he liked me.
As a young girl when a boy would hit me on the playground I was told it was just because he liked me.
Photo Credit: facebook.com
Where do we draw the line? If a punch leaves a bruise and a girl goes crying to a nurse, does the excuse that “he must really like you,” make the bruise diminish? Like the size of a bruise or the deepness of a cut shows fondness to a young girl.
The sad truth is that we have taught boys the idea of violence and taunting is a way to show a girl that you like her.
Society has a serious problem in the way that we define masculinity. Young boys are shown that they should hide their emotions and the only manly way to display those suppressed feelings is through violence. Because for some reason acting “feminine” is a worst case scenario.
There is a strong double standard in today’s culture.
For a woman, it is considered “improper” to show as little as show her bra strap. Yet, I see multiple men and boys sagging their pants, walking around shirtless, and more.
Most people today, including myself, don’t give it much thought when this happens. It’s normal for a guy to be able to show most of his body, while a woman is reprimanded or judged for showing a strap on their shoulder.
CBSwrote a very interesting article about the dress codes in work places, and the “dress codes” seem to transition into people’s personal lives too.
There also seems to be an uproar when a woman asserts herself in her career and lays down the law, and she may be called some less than polite words.
I’m not calling anyone out here, or placing blame. But, the expectation for how men present themselves is, in some cases, much lower than the expectation for women.
Of course, this double standard goes both ways. Men aren’t expected to be emotional or sensitive, and in some cultures, are judged for it.
Men are also though of as “weak” if he is a stay at home dad, does the laundry, or cooks dinner because it is thought to be a woman’s role.
Why should the public be able to judge two different genders completely differently, on the same subject, and have it be thought of as OK?
“Sorry.” This word has become slightly controversial in recent years. Most know that it is used to patch up a broken relationship, acknowledge an everyday wrongdoing, and to make up for committing a personal offense.
Who tends use this word the most? Women. If you don’t think so, then you might as well apologize to CNN, NY Times, Time, and Forbes for wasting their time writing about it.
Many reporters go to the same two studies: one made on 33 college students who kept an online 12-day diary reporting every time they apologized and why.
The second was another college study, this time with 120 of them, rating how offensive a particular action is, such as bumping into someone or asking a question.
These studies found a few interesting ideas. Women, in fact, do apologize more, but men and women alike apologize the same amount they think they offend someone. Interestingly enough, the divide isn’t the amount of apologies, but the significance of the wrong-doing.
“Men aren’t actively resisting apologizing because they think it will make them appear weak or because they don’t want to take responsibility for their actions,” said study researcher Karina Schumann, a doctoral student in social psychology at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. “It seems to be that when they think they’ve done something wrong they do apologize just as frequently as when women think they’ve done something wrong. It’s just that they think they’ve done fewer things wrong.” (Live Science)
Women perceive being polite differently than men. Whether it be taking up space, or asking a question during discussion. After seeing a popular ad from Pantene, I realized how much I say it. Take a look:
The ad shows how much women apologize for things they don’t need to apologize for.
This ad is critiquing that women need to feel sorry for asserting themselves, taking up space, or receiving help.
Many women should realize that being polite doesn’t mean you have to be submissive or allow others to walk all over you.
Now I’m not saying to just walk around in your everyday life bumping into people or stepping on their feet and not apologizing, I’m simply saying women don’t need to feel bad for existing.
Women aren’t burdens to society, so don’t apologize for existing, girls.
OVS Journalism Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.