Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Sexism Has A New Face

It's almost certainly official: men are now the ones being discriminated against.

In the days of yore, women weren't given equal rights. Girls were not allowed to go to school, women were not allowed to vote, women were not given jobs of men, yada yada. Things have certainly changed since then, but a new form of sexism has arisen. Men are now the ones that do not have equal rights, though no one would ever admit it.

Is it fair to expect guys to be the ones paying for a meal? Is it fair to expect guys to do the 'dirty' jobs around the house? Is it fair to expect that men be the ones who go to war and die? If anything, it is an exploitation of a woman's perceived weakness that women use against men. By claiming that men should be this and this and this, cause girls are 'oh-so-dainty-and-weak' (if you've seen some of the girls if our school you would know this is complete bull), they pressurize guys into feeling that they should be doing stuff for girls. The irony of the fact is, women are the ones who wanted equal rights, but coerce guys to be the ones who do all the 'heavy-lifting' (in both sense of the word) for them.

Double standards against men are widely prevalent in our society today. There is the 'Violence Against Women Act', but nothing for men when women cause domestic violence just as often as men. Clubs solely for men are called 'sexist', but clubs only for women are 'empowering'. Women tennis players win the same prize money as men when they only play three sets and men play five (and they say that women earn less than men). When men criticize women it's 'degrading', when women criticize men it's 'funny'. When a woman rejects advances she's 'independent', when a man rejects advances he's 'gay'.

An example, old but still valid:
-If a woman is walking her dog down the street and a man is standing by an open window in his house completely naked, then he is a flasher and she is a victim.
-If a man is walking his dog down the street and a woman is standing by an open window in her house completely naked, then he is a "peeping tom" and she is a victim.

Don't get me wrong. Sexism towards women is horrible, but isn't society mature enough to realize that it's about time we stop feeling so guilty about our ancestor's actions and start thinking about men's rights for a change? I really don't want to have to begin initiating the 'menism' movement...

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