10 things women in their twenties have experienced.
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10 things women in their twenties have experienced.

A fun feminist twist of a listicle! Enjoy!

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10 things women in their twenties have experienced.

1. Understanding the meaning of "boys club."


Hidden Figures Day 40


Ladies we all know that feeling of walking into a room and sizing up the male to female ratio and seeing that there are fewer of us. Although for us it becomes the norm. We move on with our lives. In most college programs like engineering, film, and even english we are usually the lower end of the population. We walk in and sit in class surrounded by boys and it is pretty standard for us. This is not the "boys club."

The boys club is sitting in your film class and having every male dominated video gain exceptional recognition while the only feedback on the girls was "it was good" and nothing more, nothing less. It is being one of the few GM's in the restaurant industry to be a woman. The boys club is where a professor tells you to find a new goal, as the one you have will not likely succeed and while he doesn't say why that is, you know what he is insinuating. It is when that same man says, "a friend of his, she wanted to be a lawyer and when her boss told her that wasn't possible she would became a paralegal, so she did." It's not getting the joke since the joke was about you. The boys club is every male dominate industry. The boys club is this impenatrable iron gated castle of which we have no buisness entering. Yet, with such big dreams and ambitions, we enter cutting through dangerous thorns and slaying dragons in our wake.

2. Walking late at night to your car and doing one of the following...

As a women we are instilled at an early age the dangers that the world has instore for us. Such as the white van that slows down behind you, the men in the alley ways, someone grabbing you, etc. We know the signs and for most without even thinking about it we react. One: You place your keys in between your fingers as make shift brass knuckles for any attacker who dares get close. Two: you feel for your pink pepper spray bottle comforted when you know that it is with reach. Three: using your phone, meaning either A. you pretend you are one the phone hoping that will keep you safe or B. you actually call someone. I don't know about you but I recall doing all three at some point. I remember my mom showing me how to do that with my keys in case I needed it. I remember getting pepper spray as a gift before going to college because "I might need it." Is the phone thing is just me though? Whenever I walk back to my car at night or even in the day time I tend to call someone just so that for sure one person would know if I was abducted. Just fun things I think about.


3. Saying something and having it be glossed over


Have you ever said something and A. been completely ignored or B. been immedaitely corrected. Yeah, thought so. But it is like so whatever right? Happens to everyone right? Nope, which brings us to our next point...

4. Having a guy say the same thing as you but having it actually gain recognition.


I know frustrating!! Like I get in certain situations the fellow next to you just repeating your statement that everyone seemed to fall deaf to. He's not looking for the approval that comes with stealing your thunder. He's not. But he gets it nontheless. Which is not to say that all we want is the thunder, getting the credit is an issue but the real problem is that fact of being ignored. Or feeling like as long as your body has feminine traits your voice will never reach the level of understanding and accpetance as a mans.

5. Feeling awkard in gyms


So this is one that I think most women have experienced and not just in their twenties. Walking into the gym and wanting to be fit and feel healthy all to have that ruined by one of many things. The grunts and groans, loud dropping of equipment, the sudden lack of space, leering eyes, or sudden conversations. Now I am not a fan of the people that seem to scream on machines because it first makes me concerned for their health and then quickly feel awkward as I realize they are just doing that for show or something. Dropping the equipment is understandable in the situation of you are in pain and not to be followed by a grunt or "Oh yeah." That makes it creepy and not a power move to show others how heavy you can lift bro. This one is my biggest pet peeve and no its not the leering. In the gym I try and find empty spaces where I can workout in private or with little to no people around. This sometimes is impossible but I usually find a way. So I am lifting or doing my thing and some guy struts up and doesn't even ask if I'm using equipment gets on the machine or gets really close to me and starts doing his thing. This is just annoying because if there is plenty of space why do you have to basically be right on top of me? Why? What's your reasoning? So I tend to move or once more and more guys crowd I leave. The leering is annoying and it is weird. Like say something or GO AWAY! Then striking up a conversation is fine but please please please do not talk about my body. You are a stranger and stranger danger is hella real even if that is gym culture.

6. Unsoliciated suggestive DMs


Yes I know if my insta, twitter, snapchat, etc are not private I am to an extent allowing this to happen. BUT, why is it happening in the first place? Why is it socially acceptable for a stranger to use direct message to either come across like a pig or to disguise themselves as a good guy to only later reveal their pig like nature. Why is it acceptable for a boy to ask for nudes? Don't get me wrong the memes are hilarious but I don't want any kinds of private place images to pop up on my snap out of the blue. That's not sexy. It is not a fun experience or a dream come true to have someone send you something like that and then inquire for yours. It is not a contractual obligation for me to send you something personal because you felt inclined to do something. This is not to say don't DM women its really just don't send us gross and severally sexually suggestive messages or images without consent. You know the real C word. Saying to a girl "you looked really beautiful in your picture," or "where did you take that photo," or "you're last meme was epic," all good things.

7. Girl Talk or "Girls are just mean"


To the girl that says, "I am mainly friends with guys, because girls are so mean." To the girl that says, "Girls are so mean." You are both equally right. In fact, I am sometimes that girl. I found that girls were meaner in high school than they are in the college. In high school I was the victim of salious rumors. My personal favorite was when a girl went around saying I had STDs before I even had sex. My whole volleyball team knew about these rumors and only one of them actually told me it was happening. Most of them said they didn't tell me because they didn't want to "feed into the rumors" or that "they just knew it wasn't true." Which is nice, but, I wish I would've known sooner. My question though is why are we not supporting each other? Like why make up some rumor about a girl you dislike? Why crown her as a major skank when she is obviously not? Why not have women supporting other women?

8. Mansplaining

For this section I just thought we would look at all the gifs of our reactions when men are explaining things we know about already to us. Things like feminism, common english words, the government, women in general, what kind of feminist you are, your job, your responsibilities, and so many more that they seem to clearly know more than us.


Us on the inside


Us on the outside


Us afterwards knowing they were incorrect

Thank you men everywhere who constantly feel as though they need to explain things to me. Thanks.

9. CAT CALLING


As cute as the image is cat calling is not cute at all. Honking your horn as I pass or revving your engine at a light so I look over are to me just not cute. For some reason it jsut doesn't seem to attract me at all. I don't know why? I mean it should right since you keep doing it. Or yelling at a young women such "nice," and "complementary" things as she walks down the street those don't seem to flatter me at all. Weird right?

10. Being told you are not a feminist because...

a. you would take your husbands name.

b. you would even consider getting married.

c. you shave.

d. you are not always angry.

e. you don't look like an angry feminist.

f. feminist are so annoying though?

g. you didn't go to the march.

and many many many other reasons that are just so funny and missing the point completely.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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