Casual callousness and innuendo about gender inequality tears at the fabric of a woman’s identity all over the world. Most people foster this environment without even realizing it. That it takes a gut wrenching video to ping the radar of the collective public testifies to how much it is ingrained in most facets of society. A five minute portrayal starts with an impassioned plea from a woman not yet born for her father to take a stand so that she might have a better world to grow up in.
At an Early Age Boys perceive the physical differences from girls at a young age. Through television and witnessing personal interactions, the culture of senselessly degrading females takes root. By the time puberty begins, the hormones start to rage. Wanting to impress friends or lashing out at things they do not understand, they start to label girls in terms of bitch, slut, and whore. One day, the thoughts slip out and are uttered out loud.
By the time fourteen arrives, women everywhere will have had to endure these taunts and labels many times. Unchecked While this is happening, the girl starts to rationalize this as people brush off her concerns with the attitude that boys will be boys. With few people taking stances, the boys start to accept that this behavior can be taken to the next level. Opportune moments with little hesitation to a girl’s words, they cop feels and other kinds of passes even when the female expresses her flat out refusal . By sixteen, her boundaries are now compromised on a physical level.
Even as an Adult This type of subjugation continues when women become adults. No longer scoring points with verbal taunts, the ante is upped with the attitude of taking what a person wants by force. After all, the taunts and failed passes were not met with reproach from male role models. Twenty one comes with sexual assaults and rapes. These types of crimes are often done by people that know the individual and their families. This attitude is so saturated that even when a woman finds love and marriage that it seeps into the home. Frustrations within the relationship transform it from happily ever after to one of domestic abuse leading up to her possible death. There is no barrier to this happening. Educational levels do not preclude a woman from encountering this very real possibility in every stage of her life.
Worse yet by society’s casual acceptance of this atmosphere, she rationalizes that it is her fault and to try harder to make the situation work. Our mothers and sisters have suffered through this because we laugh or do not say anything to stop it when we see it. Misogyny is an under addressed issue that is eroding away the foundation of every person. 18,000 American woman were killed by it in the last 12 years. Countless more in every country.
The video is just not a necessary step for awareness. It is a call for action to dismiss the casual acceptance by taking the jokes and jests seriously. Unless the lessons are taught to diffuse gender inequality and the attitudes that comprise it , this will happen to our mothers and daughters all over the world.