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Dana Hallin
Ms. Gardner
English 10 Period 0
28 October 2014
Tyranny of Sex Discrimination
Sextism is a pain that has thrives within everyone but I want to talk about its effect on
women. And for those who think this is a small matter and choose to turn their head like many
others, I ask you not to; until you have felt the humiliation of being denied the same amount of
salary as a man for doing the same job; until you have felt the oppression of only being expected
to be able to iron your husbands work shirts with a tight crease in the color; until you have felt
the sadness knowing only thirty percent of your gender is enrolled in secondary school; or until
you are just ashamed to be a girl-- Then you, can understand why I ask you not to turn your head.
Through the years the media has portrayed what they believe to be the proper women,
and because of this we have incorporated this lie into our day to day life. That expression like a
girl, what is that supposed to mean? When people say, you run like a girl are they referring to
Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce? Are they saying you run like a four time Olympic gold medalist for her
record breaking time for the one hundred meter dash? Or when they say, you hit like a girl, are
they referring to Mia St. John? Are they saying that you hit like a WBC Super Weight
Champion of the World? Or when they say, you think like a girl, are they referring to Athena?
Are they saying you think like the greek goddess of wisdom? No they dont. They mean to say
girls are weak, and fragile little porcelain dolls; and when you do something like a girl so are
you.

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As women we have been given many ears to listen with, but as women we have been
given little voices to speak with. Growing up in the twenty first century I have seen the most
powerful positions within business, and politics been occupied by men. In fact, only five point
two percent of all world wide CEOs are women, and within the United States national
government only twenty point three percent of elective offices are occupied by women. Some my
say so what? No one told women that they couldnt be CEOs or hold an office, this is true, to
an extent, but its the subconscious messaging that women receive saying that they may not do
those things. For example a women will receive seventy-seven cents to every dollar a man
makes. This actions speaks louder than words ever could, it tells us that no matter how hard a
women may work, her work will always be lesser than a mans. This subconscious messaging is
intercepting the mental and physical capability women could harness, setting the world of
science, engineering, environmental study, and many others, back: all by this interception.
Now Ladies because of the worlds cruelty towards us, we take the cruelty out on
eachother. Recent studies that show that fifty-six percent of women slut shame other women over
men. Do we hate each other because we are women? Or are we women because we hate each
other? Our minds have been clouded with the insecurities and judgments society has bestowed
upon us, and we lash out at each other in response, or we lash out at each other by making
assumptions. How can we fight two battles at once, one fighting for our equal rights, but then
one against each other?
To my fellow women, we all work as one. To contribute to a solution for this problem I
ask you to be aware of your surroundings. For example before you make a snarky comment
about someones bright yellow dress they are wearing ask yourself why that bothers you so much
and why is it worth being mean over? I ask you to monitor your mental thinking towards

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something like a sex rumor you may hear and I ask you to think deep within yourself about how
you feel about this, and when you think of names to call the women or the man in this situation
who has the upperhand in this rumor? And why? I know its strange to monitor ourselves in these
ways but we need to familiarize ourselves with our own assumptions, and just by us
understanding why we are so quick to lash out we can start to have more compassion for each
other. That being said ladies, I only ask you to not lash out in fear of being ashamed, I ask you to
lash out in the bravery of being confident.

Works Cited
1."5 Ways You Can Stop Slut Shaming Today." N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.

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2."Why Women Dont Make Less than Men." Top Management Degrees RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 05
Nov. 2014.
3."Women in Parliaments: World Classification." Women in Parliaments: World Classification.
N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.