No More Sexist Questions!
Do men think that women appreciate and want to answer to a sexist question? When it comes to men asking women sexist questions, they can get away with it sometimes, depending on the woman they are talking to and the question. They can also get called out by women who will stand up for themselves when they feel they are being disrespected by a condescending sexist question.
Ariana Grande was recently a victim of being asked a sexist question by a radio DJ in an interview and she stood up for herself by firing back at the DJ. Ariana has been known to be vocal about feminism and she was not okay with being asked “If you could use makeup or your phone one last time, which one would you pick?” and she called out the DJ by saying, “Is this what you think girls have trouble choosing between? Is this men assuming that that’s what girls would have to choose between?” She was upset with the question because without knowing who she really is in her private life, he assumes that he knows her and that she is like most girls who are supposedly obsessed with makeup and their phones, therefore categorizing and judging her. She answers the question by saying that she actually can live without her phone and she makes sure they learned their lesson on categorizing women and asking sexist questions when she says, “Boys, learn!…” Ariana wants men to think twice about asking a sexist question and she wants the DJs and men to learn to stop judging and comparing women and treat them more like individuals as well as to stop downgrading their intelligence and their identity. This example can be supported by Angela King’s article “ The Prisoner of Gender: Foucault and the Disciplining of the Female Body” when she says, “ Woman has been measured and judged against the norm of man, the essential human subject, “the active, strong and moral half of a human whole” (Bailey 1993, p.99).” This quote relates to Ariana’s incident because it shows how men judge most women the same and how they already have a preconceived notion of how they are by categorizing them into a single form of being a woman and stereotyping them based on their looks. This preconceived notion in the form of a sexist question makes it seem like Ariana is just a dumb superficial airhead that only cares about herself and her looks, which makes her look inferior to men when compared to their imposed superior, individualistic and intellectual characteristics.
Another celebrity who was asked a sexist question in an interview was a Victoria’s Secret model named Magdalena Frackowiak. She was recently interviewed by a TMZ reporter backstage at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and she shut him down and fired back when he asked her an eating question. He asked her what he was asking other models backstage as well, which was “What are you most excited about eating after the show?” She reacted immediately with wide eyes and was shocked at the question, which she didn’t answer but quickly fired back at the reporter. Unlike the other models who actually answered the question without being offended, she stood up for herself and responded to the reporter by saying, “What? No guys, not with these kinds of questions. This is stupid. Ask more smart questions, not eating after the show.” This is another example of a male prejudging a woman, but in this case it’s mainly based on her body. The reporter is judging the model based on her slim figure and assumes that she starved herself to keep her slim body and can’t wait to eat after the show. She continues defending herself and firing back by saying, “But you are making me look like an idiot. But it seems like I am starving myself, and I can’t wait for the show to end to eat.” Just because her body may look slim does not mean that she had to starve herself to get that body. Not all models that look skinny have eating disorders.
Although Victoria’s Secret models are expected look fit and slim, there are other smarter methods of staying fit like exercising and eating healthy. In the Daily Mail article that covered this story, she actually explains that she does takes care of herself and exercises, but exercises a little more in the days leading up to the show. The reporter not only prejudged her based on her body, but also, as she pointed out, made her “look like an idiot” that only had a choice to downgrade herself and starve before the show to keep her slim figure. He made it seem as though she couldn’t have chosen a smarter method to look and stay slim by stereotyping her for being a model. The worst part about this incident is that TMZ responded to the video of the interview by saying that “Magdalena reacted the way she did because she was probably ‘hangry’ ”. Despite already making her upset with their sexist question, TMZ still managed to continue to be sexist with this inappropriate comment towards the model that assumes that she is angry due to being hungry.
