My first time getting cat-called was with my mom and her friend. We were walking in downtown Chicago, frost biting the tips of our noses, when I heard a car stop behind us. A man, who must have been 50 years old, started whistling at us, asking if we all wanted to hop into his truck for a sweet ride. His eyes scanned my tiny frame up and down like a piece of meat up for sale.
I was 13 years old. My mom was 45. Her friend was 48— yet in his mind, we were one object, identical in achieving his pleasures. According to Girl Scouts of America, one in ten girls is cat-called before her 11th birthday. One in six girls has to deal with gender-based harassment. In a poll of 51 Upper School students across all genders, 46 percent stated that they experienced gender-based discrimination at UPrep– any number above zero is unacceptable.
Sexism does not vanish at the doors of our school; It remains a reality because the 46 percent of Upper School students who experience it each day are still here— and so are those who perpetuate it. We cannot claim progress simply because the topic appears in a lesson plan. A problem discussed in class is not a problem solved.
Consistently in this school I hear students making jokes on the basis of sex. Harping on a girl’s appearance, making fun of someone’s identity, commenting on a boy’s masculinity or assuming someone’s skills based on their gender are not a fair judgments to make— its simply discrimination.
The truth is, we can’t solve this problem by ourselves, and we most likely won’t as this takes a global effort. However, ignoring the problem and pretending it does not exist at our school is not a solution. When we call out cruel actions, we show people that misogyny, sexism and gender-based discrimination are not okay. If we can recognize the sexism that lives in our school, we can start to be aware of our own internal biases. Change won’t happen until we are willing to speak up against injustices at our school, like treating someone differently because of their gender.
