I would like to speak about how rampant sexism is in this society and how it is beginning to heavily affect our men and youth. It all starts with the big colored boxes that society puts us in. The blue, spikey, reckless box labeled “boy”, and the pink, frilly, meek box labeled “girl”. Just the simple labels, as harmless as they are, still perpetuate sexism to an extent. They create a division within all humans, as we have a natural want to categorize things. For example, within my family, if a girl was to prefer only pants and dresses, traditionally masculine clothing, they would believe a screw was loose. Also, vice versa, a man dressing in ANY form of pink, or even slightly feminine, would get the same treatment, likely harsher. This is an example of why these boxes perpetuate sexism and a disdain for those who don't want to fit inside one of these boxes at all. The biggest example I can think of is my own personal experience with my family. They view me as a woman due to me not being out to them due to fear. They believe something is wrong with me because I mostly dislike typically “girl” things, like manicures and wearing dresses or skirts. Over the summer of 2025, while visiting my father, he told me I should “act and dress like a girl,” because to him I am one. It was an extremely impactful thing to be told, as it was a for one, very sexist thing to say as if someone says they are a girl, that doesn’t mean they have to conform to the societal standards, and for two, made me feel as if I wasn’t loved due to presenting differently than the typical “girl”. It felt as if the love was very conditional, as if it was only truly there when I looked how he wanted me to. I know, however, it was a skewed idea cemented into his mind since adolescence, due to him being born in Jamaica. The culture in this country is respectful, but also very stereotypical to women. Despite the respect they get, they are still seen as women inside that big pink box labeled “girl”. This is likely the reason that his other family members are this way, too.

This sexism also heavily affects the younger generation, as they both online and in person, say very sexist things even if unintentional. Online, it is more rampant, however, and is a lot more threatening as you don’t know if they truly mean these words or are just trying to be special. In many foreign online accounts, I have seen men preach about women being less than or inferior to men, even saying it was rooted in biology. Even though these statements are wholly untrue, many men are raised with these ideas and beliefs from birth. They continue to preach them to the youth, and continue this sexist ideology onto the future generations. These men and boys also do feel entitled to women, some even go as far as to threaten these women with physical and sexual violence for denying them. This is reminiscent of my dads side of the family, to an extent, too. Most of the young men on  his side of the family are very sexist in this manner, too. They have threatened their female family members, and even demanded them to do typically “womanly” things, even though they themselves have learned these things. It is rooted in how they were raised and taught by their fathers, even if their mothers had told them otherwise. They also seem to be fond of a famous sexist and abuser, Andrew Tate. This man is a convicted criminal, who abuses and traffics women. I will not get into it any deeper, but he is not someone to be looking up to. The parenting of their fathers, added with this influence, is a heavy show to how this sexism is so rampant in our society today, and how it is affecting our youth.