It’s a situation all women are familiar with: Without any encouragement, a guy makes an inappropriately sexual joke. Some women are able to respond in a way that simultaneously makes him rethink his sexist behavior feel like shit, all at the same time. But you felt that it was your job to ease the tension that he created and play along by saying, “Haha, you wish!” Here are some feminist responses you could have made to his gross comment instead of “OMG STOP!!!!”
You Could Have Stared Him Down And Refused To Laugh
You’re the cool girl who is always down for a raunchy laugh, so when your coworker told you what you’re A-line skirt makes him want to do to you, you might have said something like, “Ew, shut up!” But you didn’t want to act frigid or boring, so instead of an intense staredown, you followed with, “Yeah right, you wish!!” Hey, these things happen!
You Might Have Informed Him That The Automatic Sexualization Of Women Contributes To Rape Culture
When an acquaintance from Facebook said that he’d love to be in between you and your hot friend in your profile picture, it would have been the perfect time to message him about the toll that sexualization takes on women and that it’s really challenging your perception of him as a decent person. But since you don’t know him that well and he is kind of friends with that nice girl you used to work with at The Olive Garden, you responded with another, “Haha, you wish!” Wow, this one really stuck with you since high school!
You Definitely Could Have Quoted Jessica Valenti At Some Point
Years of romcoms have taught you that the foul-mouthed playboy is the man you will marry, which is why you couldn’t bear to challenge your guy friend when he said he “wants to know what your boobs feel like in the shower,” as if that’s even a normal thing to say. This would have been the perfect time to tell him how taxing it is for women to “walk through the rest of our day knowing that our discomfort gave someone a hard-on,” but you flirted back instead, because you don’t want to be seen as someone who can’t hang with the guys, because you can! Haha, you wish!!
Every week brings a new opportunity to go viral with your fiery feminist clapback, but you missed them all because of that deeply ingrained non-response that you just couldn’t stop giving. No worries; every missed opportunity to espouse basic human decency is a chance to find your husband!
