"PLEASE READ" by Oge O

PLEASE READ

All the women in the world who were hoping to become the next Bill Gates or the CEO of Apple, the world has officially told you that you can not do that because you are a woman. TIME reports that “on average women around the world earn 24% less than men, the report says, and earn just half of the income of men earn over a lifetime” (TIME). This should be offensive. Feminism is not women being hateful and bashful to men, that’s misandry. A feminist is someone who promotes gender equality and since women get the short end of that stick, women seeking gender equality often seem like people who practice misandry (again prejudice). The end of this article will inform you on how to identify real-life gender stereotypes.

The materials that are needed are:

1.     A book

2.     Eyes

3.     A brain

4.     An open mind

Step 1: Read a book. Look for clues on how woman are portrayed in books. Don’t worry! They aren’t hard to miss they are usually the evil, wicked witches that are considered prostitutes for having sex. If it’s a real good book the women will most likely be the cause of everything that went wrong in the book; many authors do this to resemble real life because that’s how it is in real life.  Also, look for the men’s roles in the book; they are the strong, heroic, handsome ones with the flock of women around them.

Step 2: After you have read a book of literary merit, you may have notice the things I previously mentioned. After reading the literary piece, you should reflect on how this makes you feel. If you’re perturbed, if you’re perplexed, if you’re pissed, it’s justified. To be completely honest, it’s even completely okay if you agree with the way feminine people are portrayed in those storylines because that’s the way society is accustomed to thinking.

Step 3: Look around. We live in a world where it is wrong for men to be feminine because it’s “gay.” Being feminine is being weak and fragile, like a woman, so therefore if those qualities are present in a man he is immediately deemed as gay. We live in a world where if a woman is assertive and strong-willed (qualities a man should have) she is automatically labeled as a meanie.

There is no overt way to expunge our society of gender stereotypes because many people value tradition and customs, which is respectable. It is understandable why people are willing to accept these gender tropes but what is not understandable is that people in our society are allowing these tropes to limit what people can or can’t do. No one can really tell you that you can’t do something. Let’s be clear you will hear those words come on of their mouths; they’ll probably give you eye contact and hand gestures but just let those words go in one ear and out the other because they don’t truly matter.

I realize that what I’ve written is completely biased but they’re my opinions. Get your own!