How to Reduce the Sexism in Your Life
- PowHERup Staff
- Aug 7, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 7, 2020
For this week’s advice blog post, we wanted to give y’all some insight on sexism - and how to avoid it. Sexism has become increasingly prevalent in the past few decades. Oh wait...it’s always existed! Using sexist language and having sexist ideals is nothing new; humans have discriminated against and stereotyped people (most often women) on the basis of gender for centuries. In history, gender roles were such that women were considered to be weak, overly emotional, and useless, but in modern times, sexism tends to be more subtle. It creeps into conversation in seemingly innocent phrases, expectations, and more. Read on to find out four ways to avoid being sexist in your daily lives, regardless of what your gender is.
Don’t deny the feelings of a woman - or a man: Everybody, regardless of gender, has a wide range of emotions. Just because you’re a man doesn’t mean that you can’t be sad occasionally, and just because you identify as a woman doesn’t mean that you can’t be angry from time to time. Too often we find ourselves expecting men to not cry and to “be strong”, and women who show anger or raise their voice are called derogatory terms. But no matter who you are or what you do, it is okay to have feelings. Your emotions shouldn’t be suppressed or discredited by other people because of their sexist expectations of your emotions.
Avoid using sexist phrases/language: There are a lot of sexist things people say without realizing it. For example, phrases like “real men don’t cry” (see #1 for our thoughts on this), “man up” (implies that men are stronger than women) , “like a (wo)man/for a (wo)man” (reinforces gender roles and implies that one gender is better than another at certain tasks), “why do all men/women” (blatantly stereotypes, not all men/women thing the same), and “boys will be boys” (excuses male behavior as being acceptable due to gender) fortify traditional gender roles and are inherently sexist, even if they are not said with sexist intentions. In addition, automatically giving the example of a man or referring to everyone in the room as a male is sexist. A general rule to avoid sexist language is to make sure you use gender-neutral terms and try to hold everyone to the same standard, regardless of gender (see #3 for more info).
Don’t use double standards: They are the root cause of sexism.. Holding people to different standards on the basis of anything (race, gender, ethnicity, age, etc.) is called a double standard. Although they can be based on many different things, sexist double standards differentiate based on gender. To avoid the double standard, try to hold your peers, companions, and family members to the same ideals and standards; just because one is born as a girl or a boy doesn’t mean they’ll automatically be better or worse at certain things. If you don’t expect it from boys, don’t expect it from girls and vice versa!
CALL OUT PEOPLE IF YOU SEE THEM BEING SEXIST! I cannot stress the importance of this one enough. The best way to reduce sexism is by pointing it out when you see it. This will not only likely prevent future sexism from that person, it will increase their awareness of sexism around them and show people that sexism is not okay and will not be accepted. Allowing sexism to continue undeterred is synonymous to being sexist yourself - SO DON’T DO IT!
All 4 of these tips are easier said than done. Growing up in a society where men and women are inherently unequal, some of these things have been ingrained in us and they won’t disappear overnight. But with constant diligence and some increased awareness, we are getting closer and closer to eliminating sexism and establishing gender equality.
Thank you for reading this week’s advice blog post. We appreciate your support and hope you learned something new! Personal experiences of sexism? More tips on how to avoid it? Suggestions on future topics? Comment down below and let us know!
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