A few weeks ago, Giles Coren, a British food critic and novelist, wrote an article for the UK’s Daily Mail, posing the question why it’s okay for women to be sexist about men on TV in light of two male reporters for Sky Sports getting sacked for sexist remarks made about women.
This is from the same man who wrote an article two years ago called “Potty-mouthed and proud.” If you want the quick answer as to why women feel the need to express “sexist” statements about men, it’s because of guys like Giles Coren.
He does make some valid points about today’s men having to pay for the sins of their fathers because I’ve heard guys grumble and complain about being held accountable for another man’s misogynistic ways, especially when they don’t endorse or partake in the sexist behavior themselves. It’s not fair.
But then Coren undercuts his argument by going on a rant about women, saying they are “far meaner, more brutal, aggressive, small-minded, jealous, petty and venal than any man.”
So now it’s okay to be sexist about women again?
Surely, both sexes exhibit and encourage bad behavior in one way or another.
Then it seems, when we can’t be nice to each other, mutual defamation is the way to go – holding both sexes up to certain double standards, trying to figure out what each can get away with. Because it’s not the same.
While I was in London I encountered many beautiful British and European men every day, as did the other girls. So when we passed by a group of guys in tailored suits sipping on pints of beer outside a pub, I said with a smile to my girlfriends, “I think viewing women as objects is wrong, but I have no problem objectifying men.”
We enjoyed the view, had a good laugh, and went on our way after making eyes with them.
Does that make us sexist, or can we get away with that?