There was a time when your options following experiences with everyday sexism were pretty limited. You could either respond to the aggressor yourself, report the behavior to the authorities, and/or relay the story to friends and family. Now, thanks to the internet, there's a fourth avenue for recourse when those three won't suffice: sharing your experiences with the world on Twitter.
To highlight how painfully common daily sexist encounters are, the UK-based Everyday Sexism project set out to document "sexism, harassment and assault to show how bad the problem is and create solidarity." One part of this effort includes the #everydaysexism hashtag, which provides a welcome outlet for those days when catcalls, nasty comments, roving hands and gender-based bias needs to be shared with those who will listen.
Too often, women are told to "suck it up" or that "it could be worse." While there are many ways to combat and confront everyday sexism, denying its impact isn't one of them. Just because you haven't been violently raped doesn't mean your harassment isn't worth discussing. Everyday sexism creates the culture wherein sexual assault becomes normalized, so the more the entire population (read: guys who don't experience this scourge) realize there are both subtle and boldfaced ways to experience sexism, the more chances we have to eradicate it. Here are 15 experiences with everyday sexism that Twitter users reported.
Images: Unsplash; Twitter
