We’ve all heard or seen the jokes that are now gracing our social networking sites: “Where’s your mother… Why isn’t she in the kitchen?” and “Wanna hear a joke? Women’s rights” For some reason, sexism has made a comeback and it’s becoming more than just a quick laugh. It seems that people are beginning to take it seriously and after all women have gone through to get their rights, I think it’s odd that – let’s face it – men are abusing these rights again.
In a modern world where men and women have – supposedly – equal rights and share both the breadwinning and the household duties, it’s wrong that the new generation are growing up reciting the sexist comments that died out decades ago. I don’t want to be a wife of the 1800’s, whose only purpose is to tend to the children and keep the house. My common sense level lies consistently at zero and unless you want to have cross-dressing two year olds; a house that is all in colour-order but an entire tip (I have an obsession that means everything coloured must be put in rainbow order. Some say OCD; I say I can’t stand it out of order); and to eventually die in a house fire because of my experimental cooking skills it’s probably best that I’m am as far away from the ‘head of the household’ duties as possible.
Still, around the world, despite assurances that women are given the same opportunities as men, there is much evidence to the contrary. There has only ever been one female Prime Minister in Britain and that hasn’t been for 21 years; and as for America we know that they’re as unlikely to elect a female President as they are to shut down all the McDonalds and replace them with organic vegetarian health bars. Add to this the fact that most female TV presenters or reality TV judges are only there for eye candy and not their opinion and you have yourself an archaic, male dominated society lacking in respect. Next thing you know, we’ll all be rounded up and put in cages only to be brought out to clean and make food.
Admittedly, we do tend to use our gender to our advantage: a quick bat of the eyelids and a low cut top can pretty much let us get away with anything. But guys do it too – not a low cut top of course, but a quick flirt and a tight top over some great muscles can have us dropping to our knees. Still, in most films and TV shows, it’s not the dude in distress with the sassy sister in shining armour.
However, one great exception to this rule is The Vampire Diaries (those of you who either know me in person or begin to read my work regularly will know that this is my favourite TV series). Although there is the traditional ‘strong guy protects vulnerable girl’ theme - Stefan and Damon Salvatore are the two key vampires who are both in love with and always protect the human girl, Elena Gilbert - that’s where it stops: even Elena is not the ordinary main female character. She’s feisty and always puts up a fight, often getting into arguments with the Salvatores for protecting her; the opposite of Bella Swan from The Twilight Saga, who epitomises the classic, pathetic female character. As well as this, Vampire Diaries has Caroline Forbes, a first-season-human-turned-second-season-vampire who becomes a strong and powerful figure; Bonnie Bennet, the forceful witch who manages to save everyone more than once, including the men; and Katherine Pierce, the vampire who turned Stefan and Damon and pretty much controls everything without anyone realising. The Vampire Diaries demonstrates how our society should be: maybe not quite filled with psychopathic, blood-thirsty vampires, but with a balance of the sexes as both weak and strong.
Guys need to stop the sexist comments now, or else find themselves alone with their thirteen cats wondering how on earth they lost all their girlfriends. The “my girlfriends upstairs watching a film LOL JK she’s in the kitchen making me a sandwich” are going to become “my girlfriends with me LOL JK I don’t have one ‘cos I’m a sexist pig” (apparently JK means ‘Just Kidding’ – don’t worry, I thought it meant ‘joke’ as well..) I’m sick of logging onto my social networking site and being greeted by an onslaught of insults. Check the date boys: We’re not in the 1800s anymore.
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