Sexist Stereotypes

The other day, I asked a friend to check out my blog and give his feedback. His response bothered me for some reason(s). He said (in a sarcastic tone) “Main lipstick aur eyeliner ke baare mein padhke kya karunga?” For a second, I was confused. I did not know where he had gotten the idea that I reviewed cosmetics on my blog. Secondly, I did not understand why he sounded so condescending about that. Finally, I could not comprehend why I was so offended by his assumption.
Now, I like beauty-related blogs.
I am a normal female.
Normal females like beauty-related blogs.
It’s normal.
But I do not use so many cosmetics as to be able to review them (point 1). Point 2 – and what really made me angry was this person’s assumption that any woman who maintains a blog would have nothing more to talk about. If anything, he was throwing a sexist stereotype in my face. I do not understand where this sort of judgment comes from. Women, of course, think beyond lipsticks. Where do men get these shallow ideas from? Despite the fact that whenever they need advice, they run to their mothers. Mothers are storehouses of wisdom. And mothers are women. Most of our best teachers were women. The country’s best doctors, psychologists, entrepreneurs, writers are all women (I could also say a woman is the top puppet-master of this country, but let’s not go there!). None of them got where they are because they thought only about lipsticks and eyeliners. And what if I feel like maintaining a cosmetics blog? Why are you giving me that “Oh, women are so incapable of anything else” tone? Are you jealous that you can’t line your eyes? I should not have let him get to me like that. After all, he is allowed to voice his opinions, even if they are borderline chauvinistic. A couple of days later, he asked me for my blog link. I did give him the link (cos I still wanted feedback), but only after retorting, “Nayi lipstick khareed raha hai? Mere blogs pe reviews nahi milenge. Koi aur blogs ke links doon?” ;) Copyright Petrichor and Clouds 2013 at petrichorandclouds.blogspot.com Please do not reproduce the material published here.