Summer+M's+Final+AmEx+Speech+2017

Good morning ladies and gentlemen! Emphasis on the word “ladies.” My story begins two weeks ago. I could not come up with an official plan for this speech. Would I talk about the stigma around mental illness and our government’s failure to support those who suffer from these conditions? My unending admiration for and obsession with the band Weezer? Could I write about music, drumline and show choir? Skip forward to this class the next day when suddenly, the urge to puke and/or scream came over me, watching one of these example speech videos. My fists were shaking under the desk and steam was probably visibly pouring out of my ears as I attempted to hold back vulgar words, allowing only snyde giggles past my lips every few moments. Women need to stop being bitches and be “lady-like” to receive respect. After gathering my thoughts on the matter, I must respectfully reply:

BITCH, I can belch in public all I want. I can sit in a skirt without my legs perfectly crossed. I can wear short-shorts, crop tops and bikinis. I can use curse words in informal conversations. I can respect adult women even though they may or may not be having “too much sex” being “sluts” and whatnot. And guess what? I still expect you to treat me with the same amount of respect as you would treat these “ladies” you speak of. I actually happen to find burping to be quite gross, I prefer to dress more modestly and follow all of the dress codes. So maybe I don’t exactly fit your definition of a bitch, but I will defend these women regardless. These actions which you claim make women so unladylike are actions which are forgiven without a second thought when it comes to men. Why is it such a big deal that women are becoming unladylike? What about men being ungentlemanly? Why wasn't that a topic brought up in your rant about women who chose not to conform to your twisted view of a respectable female?

The word “bitch,” literally refers to a female dog. This word has transformed into a tool for degrading women. Our language has formed around sexism to belittle women. Words like whore and slut also developed through our sexist way of thinking that women are not allowed to have sex, but men are. If a woman has more than one sexual partner, she’s a slut, whore or a bitch. If a man has many sex partners, it just makes him more manly. How is that fair? Women and men are both severely judged by the amount of sex that they have. Why is it that when a woman has more sex than is considered acceptable for our society, she's a whore, while when men have an immeasurable amount of sex, they gain more respect for it? What is with the idea of men and sexual conquests? This sexist idea harms both men and women. Teenage boys feel pressured by society into having sex, to become more of a man. Women feel more pressured into sex by their male peers, but are also told that they’re less of a person if they have sex. For women, you’re a prude if you don’t have sex. If you do have sex you’re a slut. Savannah Brown put it beautifully in her poem, which I will recite a small piece of, “ hi, i’m a slut. what? you can’t be surprised when you’ve spent my entire life deciding woman equals sexualize, in ninth grade a man told me i have good blow job eyes hi, i’m a slut. but what does that mean i’m unclean, i’m less pure, i sleep around, sure but isn’t that what you were begging for?” I highly encourage that you all read that poem if you have the opportunity or the time to do so by the way. This is just one little piece of the effects that this stereotyping of sexually active women has had on society. How can we call women bitches for doing things that are none of our damned business in the first place?

You say that women nowadays curse like sailors, and this is one of the reasons for why women are no longer ladies. My greatest confusion from your claim is that you said the word bitch at least every other sentence in your own speech. Hypocrisy aside, I know that at least for me personally, my male friends swear quite a bit more than I do. I don’t recall you making any comments on the swearing habits of boys. I do not want to grow old in an America where sexism is around every corner, subtle yet extremely detrimental. If I am to grow old here in America, I want all young women in this country to know that they have value despite what anyone tells them. I do not wish to tear men down, but to build us all up to equality and break the long lived trend of sexism. I want to live in an America where women will be respected regardless of their sexual activity, their outfits, their personality or their “ladylike-ness.”

I take back what I said about calling you a bitch. You’re a person and I should respect you just because of that. You’re entitled to your own opinion-- no matter how wrong it is. Thank you.