Sexy Friday

EVERYDAY SEXISM

It must surely be my fault, but it happens with some regularity that I find myself in a heated discussion with men about the seriousness of sexism. Many men like to shout that it “really isn't that bad” and that we are “quite emancipated these days.” Well, I always say, that is quite the opposite.

Because girls are still pink, boys are blue. Girls love makeup, boys love hunting things. A girl waits for her prince, a boy is the prince. And it just goes on like that. Generally speaking, you can say that in the media a woman is assigned a passive role and the man an active one, and that is just incredibly harmful. This happens especially a lot with children's toys, but it is also very much present in the adult world.

It is also the case that people are completely thrown off when a woman suddenly gets a ‘man's job.’ At the end of last year, it was announced that Shell has a new female executive. Marjan van Loon is her name, and the AD headlined, for example, “Cheerful Marjan runs Shell and family without stress.” The piece is almost entirely about how nice (!) she is and how she manages to combine work and family. Have you ever read about a male CEO that it is impressive that he has children? Or even has children at all?

I am not the only one who is concerned about this, fortunately, and science journalist Asha ten Broeke collects on her blog ‘Sexism in and around the house‘ all examples of “house, garden, and kitchen sexism.” Because that is what it is. It seems very innocent, but it is not. The blog is hilarious on one hand, but also extremely infuriating on the other. But what it is, in any case: a strong argument when ignorant men come up with “emancipation is now complete.” That will teach them.