When I think of life as a school student pre-pandemic, I think mostly of positive things, like roaming the corridors with my friends, eating vada pavs from the canteen, and running away from my teachers. But there are also things I don’t miss— things that made me feel uncomfortable, and things I wasn’t allowed to talk about freely.
I don’t miss having to worry about the length of my uniform, and whether it was “appropriate” enough. I don’t miss the sexist jokes made by male students in my class. I don’t miss my teachers telling us girls to quickly braid our hair in order to ward off unwanted male attention. There’s a word for everything I’ve just described— casual sexism.
The truth is, casual sexism is something that has been embedded in our collective consciousness since our early childhoods. From a young age, boys learn to use derogatory words and slurs targeted towards women. “You throw like a girl.” “Put some energy into that, are you a sissy or what?” Aside from this, phrases like the ever- popular “man up” help in reinforcing stereotypes of strong men. Even on the sports field, we are taught that to be a girl, is to be weak. Even when it comes to subject streams, girls are mocked for wanting to pursue STEM. Little things like asking male students to move chairs and tables around also contribute to casual sexism in the classroom. This kind of sexism seems harmless at first, but is perpetuated by adult males later in life as well, shown by this brilliant article in the Guardian.
Male teachers, as well, subconsciously create an environment in which casual sexism is normalized. Things such as making insensitive jokes targeted towards female students, talking down to them, or treating them as “below” the level of male students can have a long-lasting, negative effect on not only the behavior of the class as a whole, but also the personalities of the students being affected. Sometimes, students even ignore more qualified female teachers, and value the opinion of male faculty members more.
Internalized misogyny is also a significant factor that leads to casual sexism in schools. Female faculty members that indulge in sexist remarks also highlight the workings of the internalized patriarchy, writes Satyaki Dasgupta for Outlook India. Think about the many times girls are asked to wear appropriate clothing, to braid their hair, to stop standing in circles and “gossiping” and to stop being “glamorous”. Eventually, female students start adopting these sexist remarks themselves, thus creating a toxic and damaging environment.
The reason why casual sexism is so hard to fight is because it is never taken seriously enough to be a real problem. There have been several instances in high schools where the grievances of female students have been simply brushed aside. Maitreyee Shukla, an MPhil student at IIT- Bombay found that 63% of students acknowledged the existence of casual sexism on campus, but chose to ignore it. Female students are generally seen as “uptight” or “too sensitive”, and told to deal with these issues themselves.
Early environments that men grow up in can also have a long-lasting, adverse effect on society. Consider the kind of conversations they have— do they objectify or degrade women? Male students often don’t realize the power that their words have over their friend groups— even small objections to the way they behave, and calling their friends out on their sexist remarks can go a long way in dismantling casual sexism.
When it comes to faculty members, female teachers aren’t entirely to blame. They have, after all, grown up in a society where their opinions were never taken seriously. We need to start having a more open dialogue about casual sexism, and try gently explaining to female teachers that times have changed, and that their internalized misogyny is curbing their own empowerment. Only then, can we dream of a classroom free from the barriers of casual sexism.
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