It's time to challenge casual sexism

Check out this article from the Times UK about challenging the casual culture of sexism that we all accept.

I love the author's point that we all stay silent because eh, what's the big deal--we want to be cool, not uptight.  And when we do speak out, we get the response, "Geez, why can't women take a joke?"  We can take a joke, but sexism isn't funny.

Now go read this really articulate, awesome article!

Addendum:  I was just reading Lucinda Marshall's blogpost on "Objectifying and Belittling Women In The Name Of Breast Cancer Awareness," when I got to her line, "At the risk of being called a humorless feminist [this campaign is] sophomoric and deeply insulting to both men and women."  There it is folks.  The humorless feminist is a total stereotype, a dirty joke.  Our aversion to standing up for everyone's right to act as a full human being (yup, that's my definition of feminism) is our own obstacle. 

And in the meantime, this cancer awareness campaign is a perfect example of casual sexism, where the physicality of boobs as objects is used as the attention-grabbing aspect of their ads.  But what else are companies to do than concoct a sexy message to garner support and awareness?  Perhaps if the general public were to make some noise and let them know we don't need ads like this to care about the *people* we're losing to breast cancer, companies wouldn't need to rely on sashaying body parts to get the word out.