Let me start off by saying that I am all for humor and good jokes. I don’t think that making fun of women and girls should be off limits by any means; I just think that the jokes that we tell about girls today have a hidden agenda. Women and girls have been working toward earning equal rights and respect for a long time now, and we are closer than we ever have been before, but it seems that a common rebuttal to this progress is to make females into a punchline. Here are some examples:
1. The dumb blonde.
A classic example, nothing new or exciting, just a perfect illustration of how we make women into a joke and reinforce that they are not intelligent.
2. The basic white girl.
Uggs, Starbucks, iPhones, leggings, North Face, Instagram, etc. You’ve heard it a million times, all of these things are associated with a white female who follows popular trends and is probably somewhere between the ages of 12 to 25. The entire purpose of this stereotype is to make young women into a joke and not take them seriously. All of these things that are somehow a punchline are just pop culture trends that pretty much everyone is taking part in. Just like boys wear basketball socks and Nikes every single day of the week, girls often wear Uggs and leggings. These trends also have nothing to do with the color of one’s skin. Starbucks is one of the largest businesses in America. If you think that white teenage girls are the sole provider of their business, then you need to do some reading.
Why do we feel the need to mock young, white women for the types of things they buy and wear? Every product has a certain demographic, but for some reason when the demographic is women we see it as a joke.
3. Women on their periods.
If you are a human being interacting regularly with people of all genders, then it is extremely likely that a female you interact with is on her period. This is nothing to be scared of. Contrary to popular belief, women can act totally normal on their periods and can conduct a fairly normal life. It’s completely possible that the woman who is upset with you is not on her period, but just tired of dealing with you.
4. Overweight women.
Women who are overweight are rarely ever seen as sexy or beautiful, they are only in movies and on TV so we can laugh at them.
Yes, these all may seem like jokes when they are seen individually, but when they are occurring over and over again it becomes problematic. Instead of making a mockery out of young women, let's start respecting them.
