Sexism Shaping Reputation

Written by: Hannah Lai (23-E1)

Designed by: Bernita Rayen (23-I1)

The fight for gender equality is one that has lasted centuries, and one that still persists till today. Every few years, we have something to celebrate, be it a law reform that brings society a step closer to achieving gender equality, or a piece of news celebrating the success of a female rights movement. However, despite the vast majority’s desire and hopes for gender equality, it is the horrible truth that we are sometimes unknowingly guilty of being sucked into the sphere of sexism. This is particularly in regard to how we perceive other people—what we attribute to them, how we view their accomplishments and successes.

One of the prime examples of this unfortunate event is when, through the media, we allow our perception of other people to be shaped by what we hear and what is fed to us. We unknowingly take in only surface-level information that is fed to us by the media and eat it up, thereby permitting the influence of the media to affect the way we view a person. Unfortunately, this usually results in one’s reputation being unfairly shaped, and in many instances, this unfair portrayal can be attributed to one’s gender. 

One classic example is Taylor Swift, Queen of Pop and an icon to girls all around the world. She has sold more than 13 million albums, has won 7 Grammys and 540 awards in total. And yet, somehow, the media always seems to focus on her love life rather than her achievements. For the longest time, all that could be talked about was how often Taylor Swift was “changing boyfriends”, and entertainment outlets titled her words like “fickle” and “immature”. Instead of having people recognise the rising star for her astounding musical talent, she was instead recognised for her stunning ability to date so many men and later on turn all her relationships into “revenge songs” to “humiliate and degrade them”. 

On the other end of the spectrum, there is Leonardo DiCaprio. Many know that he acted in the famous movie “The Titanic” and eventually won an Oscar for his phenomenal acting. And yet, the fact that he has had 11 confirmed ex-girlfriends — while Taylor Swift has only had 9 confirmed ex-boyfriends—does not seem to get brought up often. At least, not as often as the subject does in relation to Taylor Swift. Instead, he is praised for his achievements, and on the occasion when his love life is mentioned, DiCaprio is painted by the media and even society to be an “eligible bachelor” for dating girls that are usually in their twenties, despite the fact that he himself is twice their age. 

The striking polarity in the way that the media portrays the two A-List celebrities cannot be denied. DiCaprio is viewed to be an eligible bachelor and praised for his ability to date those women, whereas Taylor Swift is labelled as an indecisive woman who should “grow up”. 

The worst thing is that when media outlets portray female stars this way, we unknowingly fall into this trap of sexism. We allow what they say to be what it is, and rarely do we take a moment to evaluate the situation and compare situations and delve deeper. Just like that, the reputation of an individual is reduced to something trivial and lesser than what they deserve. 

This isn’t just applicable to celebrities. How sexism shapes one’s reputation can be seen in a school or workplace setting as well. One very obvious example of this would be in the instance of an unplanned pregnancy, where girls are often the bearer of the brunt of ridicule and judgement. Their defining characteristic becomes that of being “irresponsible”, while males, though not let completely off the hook, are not as heavily criticised and brought down due to it. The girls have to suffer through having their reputations absolutely tarnished because of this one deed, and this contributes to the issue of unplanned pregnancies driving many teenage girls to suicide. 

Despite how often we praise and advocate for feminism, and support and band together for gender equality, we cannot prevent society from throwing onto us information that can have us turning against a woman in a split second. With just one article or one rumour, our perception towards a person can be entirely shifted, and we look down on the person without bothering to delve deeper into the matter. We fixate on a small aspect of their lives and neglect the other wonderful, impactful things that have done or are doing. 

Even today, Taylor Swift is once again being subjected to having the success of her current Eras Tour being put secondary to the fact that she is rumoured to have broken up with her boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn. The fact that she has broken the record for the highest attended concert for a female artist in the United States, or that she has the incredible dedication and stamina to keep to a 44-song set list, has been overshadowed by the “disastrous” news of her rumoured break-up. 

Our society needs to take a moment to relook at what the media is feeding us. We have the power and ability to dig deeper and uncover the full story of things and not allow our perception of people to be influenced wholly by what we are told. We cannot let rumours and society shape the way we see people, as such mediums are often influenced heavily by unintended—or, in some instances, intended—sexism. 

Sometimes women are painted in a negative light simply because they are just that—women. There are unfair stereotypes and prejudices that have been laid onto females, and as a result of that, there is a contrast to how the media talks about men and women. In fact, such stereotypes and perceptions have become so normalised that us consumers of this news are tricked into also seeing these matters from a sexist point of view. In simpler terms, we have become susceptible to falling into the trap of allowing this subtle form of sexism to exist within our society and influence us. 

This does not go to say that every piece of news we receive is tarnished by sexism, or that the entire media is full of sexist people who want to see the downfall of women. There are many that advocate for the rights of women and call out individuals that are sexist. However, we cannot be ignorant of the fact that the world has not entirely embraced gender equality yet, and that sometimes we are guilty of allowing ourselves to be swayed by veiled sexism. 

We ought to allow for the achievements and personalities of an individual to speak for themselves, and not have their reputations so cruelly twisted and absolutely misshaped. This right should be open to every human being, and as such it is necessary to highlight the importance of acknowledging that every piece of news or rumour should be taken only at face-value until more research is done.

In order to truly form an opinion on a person or of a matter, more must be done to ascertain who they truly are. This way, we can be sure that we are not allowing sexism to govern the way we see people, and instead that we are taking the initiative to form our own opinions of a person that is not subjected to a third party’s subconscious or conscious sexism. Reputation therefore is built on an individual’s achievements, personality and deeds, and not on their gender.