Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates – review

‘It’s the kind of book you could easily use in an argument against an misogynistic anti-feminist’

A book full of personal experiences, stories and facts. Starting out as a sort of social experiment, to see if other women were experiencing these things on an everyday basis as well, Laura Bates set up the website ‘The Everyday Sexism Project’ where women and men could share their experiences of sexism (and especially general sexism, e.g. cat calling, demeaning co-workers, etc.). Will this book ultimately prove that sexism is mainly targeted at women?

The thing that makes this book so good is that there are so many real stories, written by real men and women. It’s the kind of book you could easily use in an argument against a misogynistic anti-feminist because at the end of the day, though the types of sexism may not be any lesser, women experience sexism a lot more than men, in school, in the streets, and in general everyday life, and you just do not see these kinds of things happening to men. Some of the stories are horrible but most, though bad, can seem somewhat mild to the eye – catcalling, women over 40 feeling ‘forgotten’ and the same situations being repeated and repeated and repeated. Something that lends itself to Laura is the fact that she has also experienced these things on an everyday basis so she can be sympathetic and understand what is happening to every person who posts on her website. She is also able to understand sexism towards men as well, acknowledging that there is such a thing and that, no, sexism does not only happen to women despite what some people make out that feminists think.

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