# What Is The Most Egregiously Sexist Act You Have Ever Seen? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565 "2009-07-19T23:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/161 "2009-07-23T20:16:38Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > This is only one of the reasons why I don’t go to my husband’s family gatherings. > > You know, I think that more women need to carry Mace or something similar, and it should be socially acceptable for women to Mace guys who do stuff like that. In most cases, it’s a threatening behavior, it is not at all complimentary, as you noted. Guys like these (not all guys, by any means) seem to feel entitled to having women be attractive and available for them. I don’t know how else to stop it, short of hurting these offending jerks every time they pull this shit. I hope you’re kidding about that. That leads to more violence assaults by men upon women, and–sorry!–your gender is going to lose those confrontations unless y’all are carrying guns rather than mace. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/162 "2009-07-23T20:20:52Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > You know, I think that more women need to carry Mace or something similar, and it should be socially acceptable for women to Mace guys who do stuff like that. In most cases, it’s a threatening behavior, it is not at all complimentary, as you noted. Guys like these (not all guys, by any means) seem to feel entitled to having women be attractive and available for them. I don’t know how else to stop it, short of hurting these offending jerks every time they pull this shit. Yes. The day I buy mace, a lot of mofos are going to lose their eyesight. I will take some residual stinging and coughing from mace in the air in order to burn the living shit out of their eyeballs. I’m getting really close to starting a Things Fuckheads Say To Me While I’m Minding My Own Business thread. Or better yet, the Why The Next Asshole Who Catcalls Me, Or Anyone Near Me, is Going to Get Stabbed thread. [QUOTE=Shot From Guns] I have always been curious if this has ever gotten any of the guys who do it laid. [/QUOTE] This has never worked. Ever. In the history of time. I’ve asked two guys on two separate occasions if it has ever worked, and neither of them answered me. My question was phrasedly clearly, “Has that _ever_ worked?” and all they could do was lecture me on having an attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/163 "2009-07-23T20:31:00Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > This has never worked. Ever. In the history of time. I’ve asked two guys on two separate occasions if it has ever worked, and neither of them answered me. My question was phrasedly clearly, “Has that _ever_ worked?” and all they could do was lecture me on having an attitude. Yeah, same result I’ve gotten. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/164 "2009-07-23T20:31:59Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > At my family’s Thanksgiving gatherings, the womenfolk cook, organize, serve, and clean up. The menfolk smoke, argue, watch TV, and put the extra leaf in the dining room table. Preach it. What makes it even more egregious is that for a significant period of time, the older men were retired while their spouses still held full-time jobs. So the holiday became just another day off for the men, while the women go the added stress of prepping for and cooking for 25 people. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/165 "2009-07-23T20:32:00Z")
I’ve wondered the same thing about guys who yell out the window of their cars at me. I’m always on foot when this happens. Even if I \*was \*interested in your proposition, what am I supposed to do … run after your pickup truck? You’re going 45! This thread is making me think of the scene in “That 70s Show” when one of the boys sees a good-looking female ass at the grocery store and lands a good swat on it … only to find out that it’s his friend’s mom. She chews him out good later in the episode … and then ends the lecture with a sheepish “And thank you for the compliment; it made my day!” 🙂 Sorry, I don’t have a sexist act to add to this thread. If I think of something I’ve seen, I’ll be sure to add it. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/166 "2009-07-23T20:36:20Z")
When I was at law school in Nashville, my wife was working full time, and so I picked up our son from day care each day, and did most of the cooking at home. One day, I picked him up, and he had been drawing a home scene. He was told by the teacher that his picture was wrong because it had Daddy cooking him dinner, and it must have been Mommy doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/167 "2009-07-23T20:42:29Z")
> [@JerseyFrank](#): > > Because he’s already home? I’m not defending the cat-callers. I’m only saying that if you gotta walk past fraternity row to get from where you passed out to where you’ll shower, perhaps the best thing to do is consider the possibilities as you walk past on the way there. So basically, she deserved it. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/168 "2009-07-23T20:49:59Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > So basically, she deserved it. Dressed like that, in that part of town? C’mon, she was asking for it! You know how girls like that are–they wouldn’t be doing it if they didn’t really want the attention. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/169 "2009-07-23T21:08:55Z")
I want to note, for people who aren’t familiar with the phrase, that “walk of shame” is gender neutral. It’s just a slang term for leaving the place you passed out the night before and having to go out in public in your going out clothes, looking rumpled, smelling like cigarette smoke, in night time shoes, to get home. It also may or may not involve having hooked up with someone the night before. (Sorry, it just seemed to me that some people were taking the phrase to mean “walking home the next day feeling ashamed that you had casual sex the night before”, which isn’t the usual meaning.) ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/170 "2009-07-23T21:59:39Z")
> [@villa](#): > > When I was at law school in Nashville, my wife was working full time, and so I picked up our son from day care each day, and did most of the cooking at home. > > One day, I picked him up, and he had been drawing a home scene. He was told by the teacher that his picture was wrong because it had Daddy cooking him dinner, and it must have been Mommy doing it. For some reason, after all the stories here, that one disturbs me. One of the nice things about living in a 90% female enviroment\* is that you don’t have to deal with this sort of stuff- because nearly everyone else is a woman, too. \*That is to say, my social circle is mostly female. I did get cat-called by strangers twice, but nothing to compare to everyone else’s stories. ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/171 "2009-07-23T22:24:15Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I’ve asked two guys on two separate occasions if it has ever worked, and neither of them answered me. My question was phrasedly clearly, “Has that _ever_ worked?” and all they could do was lecture me on having an attitude. Yes, it has. I recall reading a psych study done in which they had men and women approach random individuals on the street and ask the same question, “Will you have sex with me?” According to what I read, 2% of women assented. In other words, if you approach a random woman and make a blatant offer of sex, the odds say you’ll score 1 out of every 50 times. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find the study right now, perhaps someone else with better Googling skills can find it? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/172 "2009-07-23T22:26:00Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > Just yesterday I was approaching my SO on the street and a 30-something dude in a suit passed me and whispered ‘I love your tits.’ I wasn’t particularly shocked, but when I told my SO he wondered if maybe the guy had Tourette’s or was mentally ill. I had to chuckle at his naiveté… Allow me to defend the guys who don’t catcall for a minute. Doing something like is so far outside of our idea of how you act in public that hearing stories involving catcalling just sounds made up. Christ, I can’t even imagine EVER walking up to a girl and telling her she has nice tits. Even if she is wearing a shirt that says “Tell Me I Have Nice Tits”. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/173 "2009-07-23T22:38:11Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > For some reason, after all the stories here, that one disturbs me. > . It should disturb you, as it demonstrates the social pressures to confirm (to an outdated paradigm) that work against villa’s presumed efforts to raise his son not to be a moron. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/174 "2009-07-23T23:10:32Z")
Hmm. The worst was probably the mid-80s when the bank told Mum that she couldn’t open a bank account without Dad’s signature. :rolleyes: I had the assistant principal at my high school try to prevent me from wearing long trousers instead of a short skirt in winter (I didn’t enjoy being cold while the boys got to wear trousers.) He was some kind of fundamentalist, and didn’t believe women should be allowed to wear trousers. I am stubborn, and would cheerfully have got myself expelled over that (and gone to the papers.) He backed down remarkably quickly in the face of my intransigence. I had a boss who wouldn’t let me carry rolls of plotter paper or boxes of copy paper. I was to go find one of the male engineers to carry them. This pissed me off to no end, but I needed the job too much to put up a fuss, even though it would have been far quicker and less hassle to carry the damn things myself. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/175 "2009-07-23T23:23:20Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > This is only one of the reasons why I don’t go to my husband’s family gatherings. > > You know, I think that more women need to carry Mace or something similar, and it should be socially acceptable for women to Mace guys who do stuff like that. In most cases, it’s a threatening behavior, it is not at all complimentary, as you noted. Guys like these (not all guys, by any means) seem to feel entitled to having women be attractive and available for them. I don’t know how else to stop it, short of hurting these offending jerks every time they pull this shit. I don’t think it should be socially acceptable to assault people with Mace because they say something you don’t like. If you’re actually physically threatened, sure, but if a woman walks by a construction site and a couple hard-hats (and heads) say a couple degrading things, does that justify spraying them in the face with a chemical irritant? I’m not saying I disagree with your sentiment, rather, I agree with it on some levels. But doing shit like that would inevitably create more problems than it solves. ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/176 "2009-07-23T23:50:13Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > The one time my husband got to experience a big family get together at my grandparents house before my grandfather got sick and all, I was loudly asked if I wasn’t going to fix my husband a plate, and I just as loudly retorted that his arms weren’t broken. My aunt seriously got up and was going to MAKE MY HUSBAND’S PLATE UP FOR HIM because I don’t know… I guess a married man’s touch tarnishes the serving spoons or something. Mitch would have died rather than let someone make his plate! He had to seriously convince all the women that he was okay with making his own plate, that none of them knew his food preferences, that he preferred making his own plate. Meanwhile we are both cracking up laughing, my sister and the younger cousins are at the table crying with laughter, and my grandfather is just shaking his head, like how did this people come from me. My husband is a very quiet man and likes/needs to be left alone for a good part of his time at home, as he has a job where he can’t ever get away from people. Whenever we visit my parents in England, he likes to sit in the back room away from the TV which being Japanese he doesn’t understand much of, and read quietly. My mother demands that I go in there and sit with him to attend to him. This despite the fact that he doesn’t want or need me in there (we’ve usually spent the whole day together) and I DO want to watch the TV that I only get to see every couple of years or so. It drives us both mad! ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/177 "2009-07-24T02:09:35Z")
> [@MaddyStrut](#): > > I was in the first class in junior high that made boys and girls go to both Home Ec and shop. Up till that point (in the late 70s) boys were required to take Shop and girls Home Ec… I’m only 24 so we all had to take the same classes. Now in high school plenty of boys (including myself) took “Human Ecology”, but very, very few if any girls took shop. The girls’ lockerroom had shower stalls (that went unused), while the boys’ lockerroom had a group shower (also unused); they also had doors on their toilet stalls. Their bathrooms had a full length mirror while we were lucky to have working soap dispensers. We all had to leave our backpacks in our lockers, but girls could carry their purses (including those little “backpack purses”) to class. When our principal & superintendent (both male) decided this was unfair and tried to make the girls leave their purses in their lockers it set of a shitstorm of outrage from the girls, their mothers, the female teachers, the female staff, the school nurse, and the female school board members. The idea was quickly dropped. Oh and whenever there was an overnight field trip they always made sure there were additional cots in the boys; rooms while the girls got to share beds (everybody payed the same price). There were 2 exceptions. One was the French trip to Quebec; Mme X didn’t realize she was supposed to order cots. The ironic part was that off the 4 boys who went on this trip _3 of us were gay and the 4th was “experimenting”_. 😃 The other time was our senior trip. Almost the whole grade on a trip, and the hotel didn’t have enought to go around so none were put out. This was the first time most students realized the disparity since alot the guys complained while the girls were baffled as to were there would be extra cots in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/178 "2009-07-24T02:31:38Z")
> [@bri1600bv](#): > > Well because it showed and glorified murder and sexual mutilation. > > Do you think if I brought in a picture of a woman who had been raped and sexually mutiliated and treated is a joke prize that I’d have been working there more than 5 minutes longer? > > I know, “it’s completely different.” YOu would have used it as a chance to suck up to women in general. Pathetic. Well I don’t need to “suck up” as I pretty much always treat the people around me with respect. But yeah, I find it amusing that a woman who cut off her husbands “horn” in the first mass publicised instance like that should be credited with killing off a mythical animal. And then be pictured with its horn as a trophey. People take tusks all the the time as trophys. Its pretty much standard. If you find offense in stuff like this then I would put you in the delciate little flower category. No better than the woman that screams sexual harrassment because I tell her she is being “bitchy” when I would tell a guy the same thing for the same behaviour (or maybe that he was being a prick) ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/179 "2009-07-24T02:36:47Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Oh and whenever there was an overnight field trip they always made sure there were additional cots in the boys; rooms while the girls got to share beds (everybody payed the same price). There were 2 exceptions. One was the French trip to Quebec; Mme X didn’t realize she was supposed to order cots. The ironic part was that off the 4 boys who went on this trip _3 of us were gay and the 4th was “experimenting”_. 😃 The other time was our senior trip. Almost the whole grade on a trip, and the hotel didn’t have enought to go around so none were put out. This was the first time most students realized the disparity since alot the guys complained while the girls were baffled as to were there would be extra cots in the first place. See, I would read this totally differently: the boys got cots, but the girls were expected to share. As a teacher who has organized trips, it drives me crazy that so many boys won’t share a bed, no matter how large–over and over again I’ve seen teenage boys sleep on the floor rather than share a queen size bed with a buddy. It’s simple homophobia, but deeply entrenched. I do agree with your wider point that there is a lot of sexism towards boys in high school–in fact, the typical teacher call for help “Do any big strong boys want to help me carry in stuff from my car” is really insulting to everyone, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/180 "2009-07-24T02:51:44Z")
> [@bri1600bv](#): > > The caption was “Lorenna Bobbitt…the real reason unicorns are extinct”. I don’t think you have anybody beat- you’re comparing a cartoon taped up in an office to some pretty serious harrassment, threats, and discrimination, and I also don’t see anything sexist about the cartoon. It’s bad taste for work and I might be creeped out if I saw it, but I as a guy, I wouldn’t feel harrassed by that. > [@JerseyFrank](#): > > Nice to see that he was enough of a concern to let him finish out the year “honorably.” Heh, true. I think the incident happened in early May, so there was about a month of school left - and when you’ve let this guy get away with his behavior for a few decades, what’s another month? I remember a day or two later, he tried to get the students who’d witnessed the whole thing to sign a petition supporting him. I didn’t. Unfortunately it got worse for the girl after he was fired, since he wound up stalking her and threatening to kill her. He’s still around and insane, but she lives across the country. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565.md?page=10)