Have You Ever Experienced Sexism?

[Hobgoblin]

Yes, I'm ripping off the Racism thread. That thread has had some interesting stories so I thought this topic would bring out some more.

I cant say that as a man, I have experienced much sexism. I'm sure that women put up with it more than men do. The worst case I dealt with was a teacher I had when I was an education major as an undergrad. I was sent to a junior high school ten years ago to assist a teacher there. I dont know what the heck happened to her in her past, but some man somewhere must have really screwed her over.

She had little sayings on the wall of her classroom. "Of course women dont work as hard as men do. They do it right the first time." Another one was "In 1492, Columbus went looking for Asia and found the New World. Typical man. He wouldnt ask for directions." She also took the time to mock historical figures for being "manly," a word she said with obvious bitterness.

Besides that, there is the occasional "men are stupid" comment I hear. Nothing really serious, just irritating. What about the rest of you?

 

[SuperFerret]

Columbus was an idiot, I'll give her that.

I apparently experienced sexism from my 1st grade teacher.

 

[Harls]

I apparently experienced sexism from my 1st grade teacher.

How?


And yeah, I do all the time because I'm female. I normally try not to let it bother me because they're not worth the trouble.

 

[AllyBabble]

A girl came up to me at a club once and told me that she had seen my band play in the past and she really liked us, I was not very good at accepting compliments, kind of embaressing, so I deflected the comment with, 'Ah..what do women know about rock music?', and bam! she slapped me hard across the face, my head spun right round excorcist style, so i guess i deflected the comment only too well, with my face. I had to explain to her that I was only joking and felt my comment was so outrageous that there was no way she would have thought i was serious. But i guess that we men do not have much experience of sexism, and don't really have a clue what it's all about in comparison to women.

 

[SuperFerret]

How?


And yeah, I do all the time because I'm female. I normally try not to let it bother me because they're not worth the trouble.

It involved me getting in trouble for having a comb out on my desk, while a female friend of mine (who had brought a large doll to class) wasn't punished. Now, my memory doesn't go back that far, and I was probably playing with my comb, but I do recall this teacher having it out for me and the other boys in class.

 

[knowsbleed]

Only in the workcenter. Not just at my current place of employment... but almost every place I've worked in before as well. You name it, I've probably seen it... probably took part in one or two of them. Women taking advantage of their feminimity, good ol' boy clubs (these can be sexist and racist), outright sexual harrassment, etc... I

I've even seen a "Women's Only" smoke pit... unofficially of course. The co-ed smoke pit became a gossip/office soap opera corner. So the men...migrated... into an open field about 25 feet away from the original smoke pit. It worked out for the better.

 

[SpideyRacoon44]

In my AP world history class. Whenever our teacher gives us group assignments, its girls vs. boys, and he usually favors the girl. Though, he makes the girls sit on the left because they're always left out and the boys sit on the right because we're always right (he says)

 

[Heretic]

Years ago, I was assistant manager of a store. The manager was leaving, so she trained me in every aspect of the store that I didn't already know, and I basically did the manager's job the last several weeks. Then, the owner informed me that since, according to studies they had seen, men are more likely to steal than women, they would not be promoting me. Instead, they ordered me to place an ad, interview candidates, hire a female manager, train her, and then take orders from her from there on out. I quit.

 

[Harls]

Years ago, I was assistant manager of a store. The manager was leaver, so she trained me in every aspect of the store that I didn't already know, and I basically did the manager's job the last several weeks. Then, the owner informed me that since, according to studies they had seen, men are more likely to steal than women, they would not be promoting me. Instead, they ordered me to place an ad, interview candidates, hire a female manager, train her, and then take orders from her from there on out. I quit.

Oh man, that's harsh.

 

[JAK®]

In my Animation course, we had to write Internal Monologues for a character going through different emotions. In class, the (male) teacher surprised us and said that each one of us had to act out this internal monologue in front of the whole class, with no words, and the rest of the class had to guess. Quite daunting, right? And this was one of our first classes, so we didn't really know each other.

Because people were just getting to know each other, it just so happened that the order people were sitting had boys sitting with boys and girls sitting with girls. So nearly all the boys were at the front. The teacher started from the front of the class, making each boy act out their monologues. We had to do it, he would say, because it is integral to character animation and we needed to get rid of our shyness.

So boy after boy acted out their monologue. When he got to the first girl, however, he quietly asked her if she felt comfortable acting in front of everyone, and if she was shy, she didn't have to do it! So she said no, and didn't do it! And he asked every girl this same question!

This is classic sexism; not resentful, but an innate need to defend women and give them special treatment as if they are too delicate to handle it. This teacher wasn't old either, he's in his 30's (and interestingly, an animator that did work on Lord Of The Rings, including Gollum)

 

[knowsbleed]

That's not sexism... that's job security.

 

[doih]

Yes, I'm ripping off the Racism thread. That thread has had some interesting stories so I thought this topic would bring out some more.

I cant say that as a man, I have experienced much sexism. I'm sure that women put up with it more than men do. The worst case I dealt with was a teacher I had when I was an education major as an undergrad. I was sent to a junior high school ten years ago to assist a teacher there. I dont know what the heck happened to her in her past, but some man somewhere must have really screwed her over.

She had little sayings on the wall of her classroom. "Of women dont work as hard as men do. They do it right the first time." Another one was "In 1492, Columbus went looking for Asia and found the New World. Typical man. He wouldnt ask for directions." She also took the time to mock historical figures for being "manly," a word she said with obvious bitterness.

Besides that, there is the occasional "men are stupid" comment I hear. Nothing really serious, just irritating. What about the rest of you?

That's basically the extent of sexism I've encountered (though in different fields than you). It's annoying, but it can be laughed off pretty easily.

I know a few people though who've been slapped for holding a door open. This always boggles my mind. Personally, if I'm going through a doorway and I know there's someone close behind, I hold the door. It doesn't matter if it's a man or woman. Nothing to do with 'gender' but a very small number of people apparently think it does.

 

[AllyBabble]

I know a few people though who've been slapped for holding a door open. This always boggles my mind. Personally, if I'm going through a doorway and I know there's someone close behind, I hold the door. It doesn't matter if it's a man or woman. Nothing to do with 'gender' but a very small number of people apparently think it does.

That is insane, and even if it was because of the person being a woman, who cares? Sometimes it's nice to do all that gentlemanly chivalrous crap, hold doors open, quickly throw your coat over an approaching dog crap, all that stuff.
If a woman slapped me in the face for that, as soon as i stopped crying i would call a cop and get her arrested, that's kind of sexist in itself, just because you are the weaker sex means you can just slap a guy over nothing much at all, and he should 'take it like a man' or something? call a cop on that crazy and sue them.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I'm still figuring out one of my current semi-bosses. I'm a male janitor at an elementary and with me is one other man and 3 women. The other man, a very sweet older man, has told me before that he's been accused of things by the female principal and it frustrates him because none of it is true (such as passing work on to the female workers, etc) and having gotten to know this man and his work ethic, I doubt he would do that.

I've only been working with this woman (at this particular school) since the beginning of the school and and already she's gotten on me about cleaning the office area while there are still staff and students there and required that I stop. I informed her that I only do so because all my other areas have students in them save the bathrooms, which would only get gross again if I do them too early. She told me to talk to my immediate custodian about it. So I started doing the bathroom and as of last week she is now upset that they aren't sparkling clean come morning (as I told her they wouldn't be). I' mid shift so I leave at 8 instead of 11:30 like everyone else. So I don't have time to do both office and bathroom at night. So if theres events or kids staying over they use the bathroom after I finish cleaning it.

Come to find out, one of the other ladies cleaned the office area the exact same time that I did when she did my job last year and the principal had no problem with it and loved the work she did. But I do it and it's a problem. The bathroom thing just branches from that and annoys me and I wonder if she is in some way setting me up to fail because there is another female employee at another school who she likes that works my shift. I wonder if she wants that lady to take my place (who is less experienced and more defeatist than I am).

So I'm not sure if shes against men yet but early signs say it's possible.

 

[Bat-Mite]

My own experiences with sexism are so mild that they aren't worth commenting on. However, my brother had a very frightening experience with it last year. His wife had been abusing him for ten years and he finally decided to leave her. While she was at work, he called up several places and tried to find a place to stay until he could safely get out of the city. He called women's shelters and asked if they knew of an equivalent for men who were being abused by their wives. Their attitude was that he should toughen up and that if he was in that bad of a situation, he could stay at a homeless shelter.

It's my understanding that shelters for battered women tend to be extremely secure, and that nobody gets into one without approval of those who supervise the place. As far as I know, most homeless shelters are open to just anyone. This woman had physically attacked him on multiple occasions, threatened to drive their van into the ocean while he was in it with her, and had told him that if he ever left her, she would kill him. She'd even attacked him with a knife the week before he left her. So if he HAD gone to a homeless shelter and she went looking for him, it's scary to think about what would have happened. The family helped him out and sent him money for food and a hotel room, but it was still a very frightening time because we didn't know whether or not she would try to find him.

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

Yes, not too long ago.

My girlfriend went to the bathroom and I wanted to follow her to have a chat and to keep her company as she pooped. I was stopped by security. He explained to me that this is a ''Woman's only'' bathroom. I was horrified. ''Woman's only''? I, as a man, was not allowed in that zone. I felt betrayed by society. I felt judged, I felt as if security was labeling me as a pervert, just because I was a man wanting to go into the female bathroom.

 

[AndThePickles]

Yes, I experience sexism often.

 

[THE MR. TERRIFIC]

I experience sexism all the time...'cause I'm so darn SEXAY!!!!



ok I never have experienced sexism.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

When I recently worked as the surgical coordinator at a doctor's office, I would always be told to do the physical jobs of moving heavy boxes and items because I was "the only guy in the office" aside from the doctors. I was also given the lovely duty of going through the room of past years' charts to retrieve an old file... now this was a small room that was literally filled to the top with boxes of very loosely-organized charts. It didn't matter that I had an immensely important and stressful job that needed as much time as possible to get finished - and I was the only one that could do it in the office. Oh, when I was hired, the worthless-sack-of-****-office-manager told me this: "now, we don't usually hire men because, well, they're not as good with details and things." Yet my position was all about detail. I often wondered what they would have done had I not been there... they probably would have asked a male patient (who were usually elderly, mind you) to handle the heavy stuff. God, what an awful place. I could go on for hours.

 

[Figs]

Yes, I'm ripping off the Racism thread. That thread has had some interesting stories so I thought this topic would bring out some more.

I cant say that as a man, I have experienced much sexism. I'm sure that women put up with it more than men do. The worst case I dealt with was a teacher I had when I was an education major as an undergrad. I was sent to a junior high school ten years ago to assist a teacher there. I dont know what the heck happened to her in her past, but some man somewhere must have really screwed her over.

She had little sayings on the wall of her classroom. "Of women dont work as hard as men do. They do it right the first time." Another one was "In 1492, Columbus went looking for Asia and found the New World. Typical man. He wouldnt ask for directions." She also took the time to mock historical figures for being "manly," a word she said with obvious bitterness.

Besides that, there is the occasional "men are stupid" comment I hear. Nothing really serious, just irritating. What about the rest of you?

Sounds like she's just a man hating feminazi. She needs to pull the stick out of her ass and get laid, but then she would probably ***** about that afterwards.

 

[terry78]

Yes, not too long ago.

My girlfriend went to the bathroom and I wanted to follow her to have a chat and to keep her company as she pooped. I was stopped by security. He explained to me that this is a ''Woman's only'' bathroom. I was horrified. ''Woman's only''? I, as a man, was not allowed in that zone. I felt betrayed by society. I felt judged, I felt as if security was labeling me as a pervert, just because I was a man wanting to go into the female bathroom.

Is that something new to you, not being allowed in the ladies? Because most of the time they got issues with guys attempting to do it.

 

[Hobgoblin]

Oh and not long ago, a male co-worker told me about a female customer that chewed him out. He was serving a customer when the woman asked him for help with something. He said that he was busy and would be right with her. Then she said that there are too many men in our department and we cant multitask.

 

[JAK®]

Is that something new to you, not being allowed in the ladies? Because most of the time they got issues with guys attempting to do it.

I'm thinking it's a joke.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

When some girls interact with sexist guys they turn around and say some statement generalizing all men as being "pigs", "sexist" or some other word I'm too tired to remember at the moment. Kind of ironic really...

 

[Hobgoblin]

When some girls interact with sexist guys they turn around and say some statement generalizing all men as being "pigs", "sexist" or some other word I'm too tired to remember at the moment. Kind of ironic really...

Reminds me of high school. I asked out a tall girl and she shut me down. Quite a while later, I overheard her complaining to her friends that guys never like tall women. I was all .