Equality

I've been wanting to write a post like this for a while, as it's been on my mind for a fair few months and seeing as it's been quite a large topic of debate in the media recently I thought now was a good time to air my thoughts out.

It is about the degrading of women and the attitude that comes along with it. 

I've never, ever thought of myself, as a young girl, a teenage girl, an awkward teenager transitioning in to a young woman as something to be ashamed of or less than a boy or a man. I am not weak because I am a woman.

Of course, I myself have been subjected to the usual jibes of 'Oh you're such a girl, why don't you just do...' Why, yes I am. Clever you.

With the rise of social media and absolute tat on TV,
the growth of a million unnecessary channels and the need to fill them, we are now exposed to such delightful creatures as 'Dapper Laughs'. 

If you haven't heard of him, this 'comedian' has a show on ITV2 in which he gives men 'dating tips', (I wouldn't want to even take that term out of it's inverted comma's) but he appears to be on the other side of the line alongside with sexual harassment.

It's been massively debated on Twitter, with a phenomenal amount of people trying to get the show off the air, which is great, I am among the many. But on the other side there is huge amount of people who are still of the opinion that this guy is in fact just a 'lad' and it's all 'banter' and that women or men that do not believe this is a form of entertainment are unable to have a laugh. 

It's this kind of behavior that makes my head want to explode. It surprises me even more so that a lot of people included in this opinion are women. I've witnessed some vile words being thrown about on Twitter from women who like this sort of 'comedy' to women who are against it. It absolutely blows my mind. 

If you are of this opinion, can you please take a few minutes to entertain my next thought? If you won't think about it from the point of view of yourself being treated this way by a man, think of it from the point of view to the woman who means most to you in life, whether this be your mum, nan, aunt, best friend or even daughter. Would you think of it as entertainment then? Or would it then tip over to sexual harassment?

I am all for having a laugh, but when the laughter comes from the point of view of degrading a whole sex, the laughter dies.

The lines between comedy and sexual harassment has become far too blurred in society, I am disappointed that even Britain is falling in to it's claws. 

My Facebook timelines are forever being filled with posts from pages such as UniLAD, The LAD Bible and a barrage of other LAD pages, that are more often than not, pointing fun at or degrading women and yet get so much exposure, it's almost a social-norm nowadays.

Being a woman is nothing to be ashamed of and we shouldn't have to go through life being harrassed by men and woman who think we are the lesser being.

I have spoken before about my absolute love for the #LikeAGirl campaign and have touched on this subject lightly before, but it is something that is growing stronger and stronger within me every single day. The advert is great and within a few minutes, hits the nail on the head with it's meaning.

I recently watched Emma Watson's phenomenal speech at the UN, introducing the HeForShe campaign, after watching it through mostly tears, I felt empowered and felt that it is something that can be combated with some hard word and something that we can all make a difference with.

Of course, there are still comments, articles and videos arguing the toss about things Emma mentioned in her video, but these things won't discount the amount of people she touched with her words.Emma is a fantastic person to spearhead this campaign, I think she has such an influential and strong personality that it will reach a whole variety of person. 

If you would like to make a difference today and you feel as strongly about these issues as I do, take a moment to sign the petition against Dapper Laughs and his disgraceful attempt at 'comedy' - 

https://www.change.org/p/adam-crozier

I despise the words 'banter' and 'lad', they make my toes curl.

There is so much more I want to say, but I have too many feelings about this to write coherently this evening. I can't type quick enough to put my thoughts down before they disappear.

Please let me know your thoughts on the matter?

Toodles.

x