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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Any good examples to help point out sexism to my DH?

135 replies

BertieBotts · 25/11/2014 20:26

As he announced this evening that I am "just looking for sexism everywhere" (Nope, not looking, it just is there) and he was upset that I saw the world as such a black dark evil place Hmm (I don't).

I'm not particularly interested in explanations of privilege like the video game difficulty setting thing, just examples that he will "get". I used the example that a man might be upset if a man he knows wants to date his sister whereas a woman would never be upset at a woman wanting to date her brother, unless she thought the woman was a total psychopath. Well, that didn't work because he has 3 sisters, all an entire generation older than him so of course they have been overprotective and ridiculous over every GF he has ever had Grin So I called "Friends" and he started making up arguments.

He gets the "big stuff", but he doesn't see the smaller, everyday type of feminism, and that's what I'd like to open his eyes to if possible. I know that a lot of it is just that it's invisible to him because it happens so often to women that we don't mention it and men, especially if they don't do it, don't realise that it's happening at all.

OP posts:
saintsandpoets · 25/11/2014 20:56

everydaysexism.com

scallopsrgreat · 25/11/2014 20:56

The whole "smile" thing (when men come up to you and tell you to smile and you promptly want to stick needles in their eyes).

Also things like the age differences between male and female celebrities/presenters.

Blokey who wore the same suit for an entire year as a news presenter and no one noticed.

The fact that a woman is rarely described by what she does, but how she looks or who she is in relation to men/children. And on the back of that 'female '.

Diet ads invariably aimed at women.

The phenomena of "mansplaining"!

Wifework!

Amethyst24 · 25/11/2014 20:51

Language is a good one. "Nag", "hysterical", "strident" etc. Plus the MASSIVE inequalities that exist in terms of housework and childcare - your DH sounds like a good man and a good partner so it may not be true in his case (nothing to do with him having older sisters with their heads screwed on right, of course Wink), but maybe he could ask a few male colleagues just how much they do around the home, and how much they expect their wives to do.

JennyOnTheBlocks · 25/11/2014 20:51

take him round the children's clothes departments, 'boys' stuff is logoed up with 'adventure' 'fun' and 'mess' whilst 'girl's' is 'pretty' 'delicate' and wholly fucking impractical light coloured

PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 25/11/2014 20:47

I was going to say language too- throws like a girl, cries like a girl, etc. It's not 'like a child' is it? Because to be a girl is to be demeaned.

Ditto clothing. Why can girls wear boy clothes and not the other way around? Often it's said that this is an example of female privilege. It's not - it's a bloody disgrace to be seen as a girl is what it is.

WorkingBling · 25/11/2014 20:43

What about language examples? When a word is used about a woman that is subtly demeaning and undermining, ask him to imagine that word used to describe a man.

Dh has found this very interesting.

BertieBotts · 25/11/2014 20:37

Ooh we had a discussion about the bechdel test before in relation to Doctor who. I might start doing that about everything we watch together, which is not much TBH as we have totally different obsessions tastes. He couldn't get his head around the idea though that it was a general tool to show the lack of inclusion of women characters in general rather than a tool to show whether something is feminist or not. Or maybe he just wanted to watch TV and not think about politics, either way.

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 25/11/2014 20:30

Oops. Forgot to add. So I'm interested in examples of things where you see it and once you've seen it, it's so obvious you can't quite believe you didn't notice it before. Or it's so black and white and blatant that it can't be argued with. He has a fair few unsuspecting female friends at work, too, so anything I can ask him to canvass their opinions on, you know the stuff that women all innately know but men don't, I've seen a couple of examples of them online.

I was going to greet him tonight with my keys, asking him what he saw when he looked at them and seeing if he made the connection to "defensive weapon".

OP posts:
grimbletart · 25/11/2014 20:30

Instant e.g. Bertie - show him the thread that's just been started "Loving this sad face, mad face.."

MyNameIsInigoMontoya · 25/11/2014 20:29

Bechdel test? That's quite eye-opening if you start looking out for it I think. And Page 3?

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