This morning I was looking through my Twitter feed and found several upsetting tweets. I've reworded them and changed a name so I could use them on here.
- "My mom reminded me today that boys are horrible, stupid, and pointless. You're a mistake."
- "Hey boys. Quit being douches and messing with girls feelings. Bye Brandon!(:"
- "Why are you still trying to talk to me? You boys are so immature, disrespectful, and ridiculous! I can't believe you are seriously all the same!"
Now, I'm assuming the women who wrote these tweets are not feminists, nor are really aware of gender equality. But when men and boys see these tweets, Facebook updates, Instagram captions, it doesn't make them want to learn about gender equality either. Because by you being upset at one boy, you post it and shove all boys into that group of "disrespectful douches". You are stereotyping them all as "stupid", "pointless", "mistakes", etcetera. And without really thinking about it, then many boys will see all women just as that. Just complaining about boys on social media. Just women who hate men, and want to let them know that. It's incredibly sexist of these women. If you have something you need to say to someone you think has done you wrong, don't subtweet them. Talk to them, please.
This is why many men laugh when presented with the idea of feminism and gender equality. Because with things out there like these mean tweets, men just assume that feminism is just a lot of women coming together to hate on men.
And that's exactly what it's not. All we want is equality. No superior gender. For women to be pilots, and men to be nurses, without having the occasional laugh or stare. For stereotypes to be abolished.
But how are we going to get anywhere if things like this don't stop? Yes, I understand that this is Twitter. And it's not a huge international deal. But if we want to make a change, everyone needs to make a change. Let's create a better society, where "sexism" is no longer a term we need use.
Sexism: prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.
Let's take "typically against women" out of the definition.
Let's make a change.
Also, I strongly recommend you get on Netflix and take some time to watch this amazing film, "Half the Sky". It's an incredible documentary.
Twitter: @HannaRuita
