Gender Equality & Facebook Comments Collide
On May 19th at around 8:49 pm, a young active Facebook user (names will be changed to protect anonymity) posted a status about being catcalled on the street. The user, Sally, described the situation she was in and explained the actions that she took after being catcalled. Sally stated that she responded to the statement and then walked away. Sally then went home angry and annoyed and posted a Facebook status. Sally’s intention when creating this status was to effectively share her negative experience with being catcalled. She felt no better way to do it then to share with her family and friends through social media.
Many girls and boys commented supporting her, praising her for being so confident in her ability to express herself. A teenage boy, John, commented something along the lines of:
“Let’s be honest, you posted this status for attention… do you really think that this stupid status is going to make any difference in life at all.. Men are superior and will always be. Its what society is. Im sorry you are gonna have to live with it. Men make more cash end of story.”
Others began to add to this. They took liberty in calling women “whores,” and saying things like, “males will always be the superior gender.” Angered, girls and boys began commenting. The status became a conversation, and then quickly turned into a fight. There was many harsh inappropriate words used on this status. John became angered that many people were commenting against his comment. He was upset. He began to say more horrifying things such as, “Stop showing slutty pictures if you don’t want to be seen,” and “Men make more cash.” These comments by John were offensive and down right uncalled for. Everyone is allowed to express their opinion. Everyone has the right to bring light to a subject but not in an offensive manner.
Other boys joined John’s comments, calling girls “hypocrites” for wearing short dresses and for showing skin in profile pictures. These boys targeted other girls that commented on the post and made derogatory statements saying that, “Men have every right to look at women” and that women, “Should wear a burka” to not be catcalled. These statements are not only politically incorrect but offensive and hurtful to everyone.
While this was going on, many people received notifications on their phones to “Check out the status right away.” I looked at the status and read through the 56 comments. As I went back over each comment, I felt enraged and angered. I too was offended, hurt and wondered if these guys were joking around and thought that they were being cool by making jokes against feminism and gender equality. I didn’t understand how someone could genuinely believe in their point of view. Joking or not, the language and content used was offensive.
I chose to comment on the status. I expressed my frustration and aggression and made it incredibly clear how offended and appalled I was. I let them know they were not being “cool or funny.” About ten minutes later, I received a text from one of my close school friends telling me that I had be “burned.”
One of the boys that had expressed similar views to John decided to comment back at my comment. He let me know that “Either way [I was] 100% irrelevant,” and that he “Could care less about my opinion.”
Instead of being sad, and sulking around my room wanting to understand why this kid targeted me, I decided to take this feeling of anger and frustration and to instead start a conversation. The next day at school, I spoke to my fellow classmates about what they observed happened. They all expressed utter disappointment. Many boys were sad that, “Males everywhere where being represented in such an unfair way.” John not only represented himself poorly, but the entirety of the male sex.
Many girls have started to take action, and it has only been a week. Sally is going to begin an initiative in [her] school next fall called STAGE: Students Taking Action on Gender Equality. The goal is “to eliminate gender stereotypes and gender bias.”
If more schools and more people begin to talk about this topic, I personally believe that our generation can make such a change. It’s sad and frustrating to think that we have not learned from our past role models. We could become the new leaders, like Shulamith Firestone and Betty Friedan who made an incredible impact on the second wave feminism movement. Our generation is the beginning, but in order to build up or change we need the talk to start. As horrible and offensive as the words and statements that were said are, I truly believe that it had to happen. The light needed to be shed on the topic of gender inequality. It goes to show us all how little we are educated on this topic. The lack of information about job security and unequal pay, as well as, discrimination in the workforce, abortion laws, and the right to a woman’s own body, are all topics that are still relevant today!!
I am very excited to continue the conversation. So spread the word, talk about it at your dinner table. Share it. Like it. Post it. If it’s something you feel needs to be shared you have liberty to write it.
Feel free to come up to me and talk to me about this topic!! I am SUPER open to all opinions and I promise I don’t bite!