5 Things You Never Realized Were Sexist

Every time somebody gets away with calling the female gender the “gentler sex” or the “fairer sex,” it’s a battle lost. Every time a daughter is given a pink bike and a son is given a blue bike, I cringe a little. Every time a gender neutral word is given a gender by a culture, humanity takes a step back. Here are five situations you didn’t realize were sexist:

1. You correct yourself if you describe a man as “pretty.”

Pretty means “almost.” “Pretty” is described as being attractive without actually being beautiful. “Pretty” is almost a compliment. Why is a man pretty ugly or pretty handsome but never just pretty? Women have had meltdowns over this word. Men have written sonnets about how other girls are “pretty”, but You My Love, are “beautiful.” Why have we reserved such a “degrading” word for women? Think about it.

2. When you hear “rape,” you think of the female gender.

Face the facts — men get raped. It may not be as familiar a reality as a woman getting raped but in this perfect little world of ours, this is actuality. They are abused, they are molested, and they get raped. It doesn’t make them any less of a man, just like it doesn’t make the rapist any more of a man.

(In other gross news, “Chelsea RAPED Liverpool” means Liverpool lost to Chelsea and that is ALSO our reality. We need to be more careful with the casual use of the term.)

3. Earrings.

Bracelets — you have a wrist, why not decorate it? Necklaces — let’s keep a noose as close as possible! I understand the idea of embellishing all the hinges and joints of a female body. But a completely unnatural hole in your earlobe? This only dawned on me when I found myself asking a new acquaintance WHY her ears were NOT pierced.

Since the time I was able to wonder, I have wondered, why drill a hole in your ear loop just to add extra metallic weight. Sadly before I could even question, I was branded with the Holy Hole.

4. You know too many words for a woman with multiple sexual partners, not one for a man.

Imagine a prostitute.

You are now thinking of a woman in fish-net stockings (don’t deny it).

No, I was talking about a MALE prostitute.

It’s all in the semantics.

Whore. Harlot. Prostitute. Call girl. Slut. You have too many words to describe a promiscuous woman. What do you call a man who decided that it’s his life and only he decides how many women are too many women? A man who decided to sate his sexual drive via multiple partners? Probably a “player.” The funny thing is that you could replace the woman with a football and he’d still be a player. But she? She will always be a whore (that’s a Game of Thrones reference for you).

5. You have apologized for things nobody should have to apologize for.

You have said the ever-so-casual sorry for things you don’t need forgiveness for, such as wearing your favorite pink dress or while getting your manicure done, because it’s such a “girly girl” thing to do. Before asking that obvious question, because you thought it sounded stupid and a man would definitely know the answer to that. When you couldn’t lift up that heavy box, because you are a man, and men should be able to life heavy things. For not wearing make-up, because you look like a “mess” now. For wearing make-up, because you must look like such a drag queen now.

Don’t wear “sorry” out. Only say it when you mean it.