Morning everyone.
I feel like I haven't submitted a blog post in forever. I've been super busy with university from the end of last month and the start of this month that I haven't had anytime to post anything. However, now I am finished university for Christmas, so I shall be back on top with my blogging!
So, yesterday I was shopping in Waterstones after work, trying to find my friend a birthday present and as per usual getting very distracted. I genuinely love book shops. I'd love to work in one, they are so peaceful and full of well-read intelligent shoppers, people who do not harass me with questions as to why there is no fitting room. The manager always asks me if I want a job every time I'm in, maybe I just have that expression on my face of, "please give me a job and money," but I have to assure him I already have one. So I wandered upstairs to the most quiet out of the two floors in Waterstones in search of an enlightening book and much to my disbelief I came across one.
Everyday Sexism is a book by Laura Bates. A young journalist who started a project called "Everyday Sexism." Laura set up a website for people of all ages to post past experiences of sexism and vent their feelings. These experiences escalated from being called "sexy" in the street from a random man, to being touched on the bum in a club to rape - all are as serious as each other as they all illustrate discrimination due to sex.
I am already half way through this book and it has stirred some very strong emotions within me. I have become angry and sad as young girls tweet Bates and highlight how boys in their school classes diminish their intelligence or tell them to "get back to the kitchen" - showing that this discriminative behaviour starts from an early age.
I feel the ironic thing of it all, is that most young boys or even the more uneducated older men do not even know they are being discriminative towards women. Our society raises male and female of two contrasting sexes only to ever meet to come together to create live, but then to live in different segments of society. With the male as the breadwinner and as the female as the mother. It is evident that when women challenge their gender representations, this causes a lot of controversy. From politics to women moving higher up in businesses and large companies a like. From comments of Theresa May's shoes in the media to Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel's frumpy suit, women are continually degraded and not taken seriously when in a platform of power.
It is evident men take this as an insult to their own power and ego.
I could rant on all day about the in's and out's that this book has to offer but the only way you can truly experience the insight into everyday sexism is to read the book itself. I promise you will feel your mind open up as you turn each page.
As women we must stand up to everyday sexism and stamp it out!
