Whatever your gender is, we all have experienced misogyny in one form or another — either as a helpless victim or an observer. The difference between the two is that the latter has a choice: to look away and stay out of trouble (enabling the injustice); or to try to do the right thing and help the one in trouble.
There are many wrongdoings happening before our eyes on a daily basis — whether we choose to look the problem directly in the eye or not. This goes beyond just men in dark alleys waiting like predators. Or women being catcalled in the most inappropriate ways.
In the continuing spirit of International Women's Day, Bored Panda wants to celebrate men (and women alike) who are brave enough to stand up against the abhorrent, degrading behavior that many women across the world are still forced to endure because of chauvinistic men. All we hope is that this compilation will spark some long-overdue change, to take action when needed, and in the years to come — misogyny will hopefully be a thing of the past.
From catcalling to discrimination at work, many women globally are forced to put up with some form of misogyny on a daily basis
And while not everyone feels brave and strong enough to tackle discrimination, women do remember the times someone stood up for them
When the #MeToo movement emerged in late 2017, there were a lot of things said and done. But one thing that stuck with us the most was said by Swedish pop singer Zara Larsson: "Isn't it strange how every woman knows someone who's been sexually harassed but no man seem to know any harasser?" she blatantly wrote on her Twitter.
Indeed. Misogyny might only be a catch-all phrase to some — something that deals with sexism, discrimination and can be easily meme-ified. A mongoose in Kenya suddenly can be a misogynist ("somehow"). Apparently, it also can make a good T-shirt slogan ("Chill with that misogyny"), depending on whom you ask. But many tend to forget, or simply don't want to look at the numbers: globally 1-in-3 women have had to deal with sexual harassment at least once in their lives. It's not entirely surprising then that the majority of women in the UK still don't feel safe walking by themselves at night.
#1
I had quite bad cramps one night at work(I work as a night filler for a supermarket) and was taking a moment to breathe through them so I was standing still with my eyes closed. I had one of my co-workers who isn't good at his job come up to me and say 'you know everyone around you is doing their jobs and you are just standing there doing nothing, you should get back to your fking job' and before I could saying or do anything, another of my male co-workers comes up stands in-between me and him and goes 'mate, she fills three times the speed you do, how about you fk off and learn some common decency, you prick.' It actually made my night.
The guy who defended me has 3 sisters and explained that he has seen the face I was making on his sisters when they have cramps. This guy just turned 18 and is better with the menstrual cycle than a good portion of the men I have met.
I am the only female on the team for reference
461points
#2
A male senior lawyer was introducing the female junior I worked for to his client. His client made a comment that she's easier on the eyes than he was and the senior lawyer stopped the meeting and said "you don't make those comments, not here, not out there, not anywhere. If you continue to do so we will terminate our engagement. I will not put this woman in a situation where she will be made to feel uncomfortable. If you disagree with me you can find alternate counsel" and that has always stuck out to me. Not many senior lawyers I know would make a statement like that to long standing clients but he drew a hard line in the sand and held the client to it. Granted this wasn't an extreme situation and everyone was sure the client was just trying to make small talk but that lawyer didn't care how innocent the comment was, it wasn't professional and he knew that he had to step in and set some clear boundaries.
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377points
In order to learn more about misogyny and the ways in which people have been helping to fight it, Bored Panda reached out to Hera Hussain, a Forbes 30 Under 30 (Europe) Social Entrepreneur and the founder of Chayn, a non-profit that helps women across the globe to escape or fight gender-based violence and harassment.
"When I started it, people couldn't understand the impact of Chayn because it wasn't something you could touch and feel. There were no pictures, I couldn't show them photos of people smiling or sitting in a room. They just couldn't understand it," Hussain said.
She's happy that there are now more organizations like Chayn, helping those in need and those who are often being silenced by abusers. But when Hera launched the organization when she was only 24 years old and inspired by the experience of trying to help her Pakistani friend find asylum in the UK — things were very different.
"[Back then], you had to go places in person. You had to pick up the phone, wait for a really long time and talk to someone. And my friend, she didn't know the language to express what was happening to her," Hussain explained. "It was just all very diverse in terms of the mediums, but also in terms of the information that they provided."
Being a tech-wiz herself, Hera knew what she had to do. And what started as a Pakistani-only mission soon grew to encompass women from all over the world.
#3
I work in finance. My first day of my first ever internship, we had a product vendor come in for a meeting with my (male) boss, and my boss decided to invite me to see how I handled it. Fortunately, my boss joined us at the conference table at just the moment when the vendor winked at me and said, “sweetheart, can you get me a coffee while I wait for the meeting to start?”
My boss didn’t even sit down, just told him he could leave and that we didn’t need his services after that.
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368points
#4
A man at my work started a sentence directed at me by saying "Not to be sexist, but.." and another guy on the team just shut him right down with "then maybe just don't talk, Adam". Felt good.
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293points
Having lived most of her adult life in the UK, Hera, like most young women in the country, is no stranger to sexual harassment. "I was once traveling from Glasgow to London and I was harassed by someone who was sitting in the train, drunk and inebriated. It was really scary," Hussain said. She even reported the abuser to the police, but the case was eventually dropped because "the CCTV footage wasn't clear enough" for the prosecutors.
Having said that, based on her own personal experience as a Pakistani woman living in the UK, for all the times she was catcalled or verbally harassed by a complete stranger — no one came to Hera's assistance. "Unfortunately, bystander intervention is uncommon [here]. I think every single time something like this has happened to me, nobody has done anything about it," she said.
Although there is no peer-reviewed research that would explain why so many bystanders choose to ignore the social injustice happening in front of their eyes, Hera thinks it all comes down to fear. "I think it's important to think about what are they afraid of. If someone's afraid for their physical safety, there are safe ways to intervene, like calling the police," Hussain pointed out.
#5
One of my male physics professors reported a male student in my class for taking lab materials out of my hands and saying “relax honey and let us men do it” and told me to do the write up (us men referring to the rest of the lab group). I just brushed it off even though it was immature because you know, but I was called in as a result of his report and I’ve always been shocked by his dedication to make his classroom a welcoming space. i was the only one who passed that lab assignment because it was only my handwriting on the written portion.
He also backed me up when a department head was treating me badly and helped connect me with tutoring and psych resources for issues I was having. He was never inappropriate; he honestly never really spoke directly to me aside from class. never met another man like him, now that I think about it, especially not in stem.
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289points
Others, Hera believes, are afraid of the reaction their assistance might cause. "In the case of a domestic dispute, people are afraid that the victim or survivor is going to turn on them and say, 'This is a private matter, please don't interfere.'"
But statistics show that misogyny, at least for the moment, is not going anywhere. That's why it's important to step in and put our apprehensions aside. "Misogyny is endemic within our culture," Hussain said. "So, let us take the brave step and do something about it."
#6
I was out running, and there was some plumbers cleaning up after a mains sewerage leak, busy hosing down the road. Some young guys hanging around watching catcalled me, and when I ignored it he started hurling abuse and threats. One of the plumbers turned the hose on him and absolutely drenched him. I wrote to the city council who the plumber was working for, didn't tell them about the hose off but said he had stepped in when I had been threatened. No idea if he ever got any recognition but it was beautiful.
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279points
#7
Yes! I was at a Starbucks and there were three men at a table near me. They were East African Muslims. Apparently on his way to Starbucks, Man 1 saw a young woman from their mosque, but she wasn’t wearing hijab or modest clothing- she was wearing shorts and her hair was uncovered. Man 1 said something dumb about “men are going to treat her poorly if she dresses like that, she’s asking to be attacked, etc”. Man 2 said something along the lines of “if you think that way about her, that’s your problem, not hers. she can do whatever she wants.” Man 1 tried to justify his stance by saying she was straying from Allah. Man 3 then said, “I feel so sorry for you! You’ve been in the US for 20 years and you still think that way. Women can dress however they want, man. She can have faith or not have faith and dress how she wants.”
It was nice to hear. No women around except me and some baristas, and these guys were still defending the women in their faith and community who didn’t look “typical”
265points
#8
I dont know if it falls under correcting misogyny, but the whole interaction felt misogynistic (gatekeeping). Early on in the MCU days, I had bought a Captain America shirt with just the shield logo on the front. I wore it to work on a Friday. A guy at work asked me if I like Marvel and I was like "yeah! I really like the new movies coming out!". In response he started quizzing me on the comics. Before I could even get a word out, two other guys heard and shut him down immediately. Telling him gate keeping was lame and to just let women enjoy comics/superhero movies.
It was minor, but this was like 8 years ago and the interaction still sticks with me. Also, the two other guys weren't really my friends or people I had a relationship to. They just heard him being rude to me and jumped in.
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263points
#9
Yes, I had a professor (I majored in IT) who said on the first day of class that if anyone said “any BS sexist remarks” about the women in class, they were gone. He then proceeded to talk about how some of the best, most hard working people he knew in the field were women and that he was glad to see the number of girls in class increasing each year. It was amazingly refreshing.
263points
#10
When I was in college I was at a club dancing with friends, and one certain dude (total stranger) would NOT stop grinding all over me. I spent literally 30 minutes moving around the club to new spots, hiding, and straight up telling him to leave me alone. Finally the biggest, bro-iest, douchiest, looking frat dude came over and honestly my first thought was "oh no". But he just calmly took the guy by the arm and said "This is not ok" and led the guy away.
To this day I still feel bad for judging the frat dude based off his appearance because he was an absolute gentleman.
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252points
#11
In high school, some kid in my class said some variation of “women belong in the kitchen” and my male history teacher fake gagged and told him to shut up, and said something like “look at all the girls that will now absolutely never date you” while gesturing to the class.
Other then that I can’t think of any though
*Fixed a very strange and silly typo
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227points
#12
A random dude saw me in a booth with my date who kept trying to feel me up even though I was saying no. The guy came right over and said to my date “she said no, get out of the f*cking booth.” My date started saying how it was a joke and we were just playing around, but the guy could tell I wanted out, so he just hauled my date out of the booth and I got out and went to the bar to tell the bartender what was going on. My date was banned from the bar and the guy got free drinks for the night.
I’ve also seen my brothers both tell their friends it’s not cool to creep/say misogynistic sh*t to girls. Both when the guys are directing that at me and to other girls. I was picking my brother up from work one day and walked in to wait in the AC and his coworker was saying to a girl that “females shouldn’t play online games because they’re distracting to the men playing” and the girl looked like she was about to say something, but my brother real quick said “dude, Don’t blame your sh*t skills on the girls. When we play you lose just as hard.” His coworker was red in the face and the girl started laughing And I’ve never been more proud of my brother haha
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213points
#13
I saw it once. It had a huge impact on me. I was on a public transportation bus, and a woman was sitting near the window, staring very pointedly out of it. A guy had come and sat next to her in the aisle seat and he was just... taunting her. Saying things like 'Heeyyyyy .... Hiiiiiiii .... are you deaf? Are you deaf, b*tch? You think you're better than me? Don't act all stuck up, b*tch, I just wanna be your friend....' etc. Eventually he escalated to throwing stuff at her, like picking up sunflower seed shells off the floor of the bus and throwing them on her lap and laughing in a really cruel way. She was completely frozen the whole time, just staring out the window.
I should mention here that there was a huge size discrepancy between them, she was very petite, and he had like a linebacker's build.
I was sitting directly behind her and I'd already made up my mind that if he tried to follow her off the bus that I would get up and follow too to make sure she wasn't alone. Before I had to, this man who was standing in the aisle of the bus next to them looked down at that guy and just went 'Hey,' and when the guy looked up at him, he just shook his head. It was so quiet, and so subtle, like a parent correcting a child quietly at a fancy dinner party or something. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been watching the exchange so intently myself.
Very shortly after this man distracted the guy, the woman jumped out of her seat/over his legs and bolted for the exit. The guy got up to follow her and the man just very slightly got in his path and shook his head again.
The scary guy just shook his head and made a hand gesture like 'f*ck it it's not worth it' but it was pretty clear that this guy was absolutely going to follow this woman off the bus if that man hadn't said anything.
After she got off, I made eye contact with the man and mouthed 'thank you' and he looked so taken aback that someone had noticed, he just shook his head at me too and moved away from my eye sight.
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210points
#14
My husband works for a bank. At the beginning of the #MeToo movement, male colleagues mentioned they were nervous to mentor women now. My husband shot this down and said, 'If there's anything you are doing that can be mistaken for harassment, that's on you, not them
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199points
#15
I was the only female interviewer in a group of male colleagues and we were doing a wrap up session at the end of the day. We were discussing a candidate and one of the guys said “maybe the candidate didn’t respond well because HR is a woman.” Cue all eyes on me as the only woman for my response. Bloke to my left went straight in - “what ARE you talking about?! I doubt that’s the case but if it was I certainly wouldn’t want to hire such a misogynist.” I didn’t have to say a word. So refreshing. I thanked him in the lift later. THATS an ally.
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192points
#16
I was a first year apprentice, working for a guy who runs his own business. He drives us to work every day, and an all around chill dude. One day, I was walking around site carrying a very big light I was going to install, and the site super saw me and turned to my boss who was working on something in the vicinity and said “you sure hired a pretty strong girl there dave” And without a beat, dave (my boss at the time) said “she’s not just a girl, she’s an electrician”
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181points
#17
I was conducting the technical portion of an interview for a software developer position and the interviewee interrupted me to question my credentials. Thankfully, the man from HR picked up on this and gave the candidate a very confident NO THANKS.
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170points
#18
When I was around 19 I was taking the bus home late at night, a dude with aa weird vibe was trying to get my attention and this older man on the bus was watching out of the corner of his eye. I dinged to get off at my stop, which was deserted and the creepy guy stood up too.
The older guy, for right in between us and made him sit down, literally wasn't gonna let him off the bus to follow me.
Me and the old guy had never said a word to each other but he was totally looking out for me.
166points
#19
I used to work in a machine shop in my college. My desk was right next to the door. One day a kid walks in and I ask him if he needs help. He looks at me and goes "no he can help me" while walking toward my boss. After listening to his question my boss replies "well shes the one you need to ask but I don't think she'll want to help you now"
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159points
#20
My fiancé is a (senior) software engineer and on at least 3 different occasions I have overheard him stop a man who has cut off or started talking over a women, and say something like, “Can you please stop talking, I was trying to listen to what x was saying. X, could you continue or “ummmmm x was talking…….. x, would you mind repeating yourself”. And each time it makes me simultaneously tear up a little with happiness and also get super turned on! I haven’t told him yet that I’ve overheard him
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147points