It’s depressing to think of the things that have become normalized in our society – we’ve learned to look past things that we shouldn’t look past simply because everyone seems to be doing them. Take misogyny, for example. It’s impossible to count the number of times girls in middle and high schools are yelled at in inappropriate ways, have sexist and offensive comments thrown at them, and are treated grossly.
The way that so many guys talk about excruciating topics with such rawness and underlying depth to them, without any thought process, is not only disgustingly unfair to hear on a constant basis, but also way too common. This, one would hope, wouldn’t happen in our generation and even in our school, but unfortunately, that is not the case.
“Once a guy asked me for a pencil sharpener in class, and I simply said that I didn’t have one, so he called me a b*tch.” This is one of the many stories shared by girls in our school. It was “completely uncalled for” and so pointless. So many teens are way too comfortable with using slurs and calling others offensive names, and when they get called out on it, they just end up playing it off as a joke and acting like that person is being dramatic for getting offended.
If a girl decides to stand up for herself and go against the misogyny, then guys go back against it by calling them dramatic and saying that they are just stirring up drama. For instance, some guys were being gross and saying things about girls, and when someone “called them out and yelled at them,” the guys replied “stop making it about you” as a way of downplaying and discrediting their feelings and opinions.
There are countless similar stories that occur pretty much daily: so many guys in this generation will call a girl a b*tch for no reason whatsoever. Being annoyed at someone is not an excuse to say something offensive, ever. Many people will just be offensive in order to fit in with the norm and the way people are doing things – so calling a girl a b*tch has become way too integrated into our daily lives as teenagers.
Society is based on the brutalization of women, and it isn’t talked about enough. And when it is, the words are swayed to be a “form of hatred towards men”. Girls this age keep having to ask ourselves these questions: In what circumstances is defending yourself a hate crime? Why is it that every time a man does something to me, the only possibility of it has to lie in my hands? Did I deserve to get catcalled by a man for an outfit I was wearing? Was I being too loud the main factor in why I get mocked by boys for my overuse of human expression? Was my opinion too unfiltered in the truth of society and misogyny for you to feel threatened as a male? It seems that way through the projections of insecurities in the male race I deal with on a daily basis.
This is what constantly runs through so many teenage girls’ heads – all because of the normalization of misogyny.
