Everyday Sexism

I only recently began travelling by public transportation, and the local buses have not really made it a pleasant experience so far. Apart from the bumps every now and then, and the reek of the seats, there are other things that bother me. A bunch of seats at the front of the bus are reserved with a sign that reads, “For women/disabled persons”. Now, when you do get a chance to read the sign, considering how the seats are mostly occupied by men twice your size, you feel nothing but a fiery irritation kindled within. The indirect implication that women are not capable of taking care of themselves, and hence the affiliation with the 'disabled', is downright offensive. The fact that womanhood is considered an impairment is demeaning to women everywhere.
Around the same time, I came across a picture on a social media site. It was the back of a bus with the words, “Women are the real enemy”, painted on it. More repulsive than the picture were the comments on the picture. The remarks were mostly from men and they wrote, “Haha, so true!”, “Annihilate women” and such. People have a tendency to blow off comments and situations like these as a joke. When someone does speak up about these so called 'jokes', they are automatically labelled a 'buzz-kill' or 'know-it-all'.
Recently, a trending topic took Twitter by storm when a London-based page called 'everyday sexism' began operating. What they do is collect snippets and first-hand accounts of the everyday sexism people all around the world face. This is done on an international basis; thus showing how bad the predicament is, and in turn generates solidarity. Inspired by that I decided to take a closer look at everyday/casual sexism in Bangladesh.
Girls as young as ten are taught that they must abide by a different set of rules. That perhaps, being born as a girl results in the mechanical acceptance of the fact that they are 'followers', not 'rule makers'. In conservative countries like Bangladesh, girls are expected to dress a certain way while guys aren't, to not laugh loudly, to sit stiffly while men can slump on a chair. “I have this cousin who is really rude. He's rude and [he] has no respect for anybody, especially women. People always justify his actions with, 'Oh he's a boy' or 'You know how boys are'. I think this is why men in Bangladesh are so crude, because people just let them do what they want, because they're boys,” says Ruchira, 17. Disregarding such behaviour as 'normal' or 'acceptable' only fuels sexist attitude.
Everyday sexism isn't just limited to making offensive comments and behaving rudely. It is also watching such odious actions and remarks pass by unchallenged and without any intervention. Krishna, 16, narrates, “While gaming online, you come across many players of different religions, ethnicities and languages. Sometimes when girls are playing, and their mics are turned on, a lot of the guys will get competitive and make offensive and disrespectful comments. This happens amongst just guys too, but with women involved, the curses get a lot worse.”
Everyday sexism can range from local buses preventing women carrying children from boarding the vehicle to your teachers asking you why your father comes to pick you up since such domestic tasks fit a mother better. Ultimately, such issues are still not considered 'serious enough'. Some choose to continue being sexist, hiding behind the tag 'patriarchal', some choose to turn a blind eye, but then there are the crazy ones (like yours truly) who still want to be treated as an equal in everyday life.