The Everyday Sexism Project is a website founded on 16 April 2012 by
Laura Bates
Laura Bates (born 27 August 1986, Oxford) is an English feminist writer. She founded the Everyday Sexism Project website in April 2012. Her first book, ''Everyday Sexism'', was published in 2014.
Biography
Bates' parents are Diane Elizabet ...
, a British
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
writer. The aim of the site is to document examples of
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
from around the world. Entries may be submitted directly to the site, or by email or tweet. The accounts of abuse are collated by a small group of volunteers.
The launch of this website is considered to be the beginning of
fourth-wave feminism
Fourth-wave feminism is a feminist movement that began around 2012 and is characterized by a focus on the empowerment of women, the use of internet tools, and intersectionality. The fourth wave seeks greater gender equality by focusing on gende ...
.
History
After graduating from
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
with a degree in English Literature, Bates worked as a nanny and found that the young girls she looked after were already preoccupied with their body image.
She set up the Everyday Sexism Project in April 2012 after finding it difficult to speak out about sexism.
Nearly a year after beginning the website, Bates reflected on the common response she had received. "Again and again, people told me sexism is no longer a problem – that women are equal now, more or less, and if you can’t take a joke or take a compliment, then you need to stop being so 'frigid' and get a sense of humor", she told Anna Klassen of ''
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' website in April 2013. "Even if I couldn’t solve the problem right away, I was determined that nobody should be able to tell us we couldn’t talk about it anymore."
At the time of the 2012 foundation of Everyday Sexism website, Bates had "hoped to gather 100 women's stories", but a year after the launch she wrote in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' that it had grown very rapidly "as more and more women began to add their experiences – women of all ages and backgrounds, from all over the world", and was then "about to spread to 15 countries".
The ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' journalist
Lucy Kellaway wrote about Bates and the project in the summer of 2014: "I have undergone an unsettling change of heart, and dumped almost all my beliefs on what it is to be a woman in Britain." The project affected Kellaway "in a way that the writings of Camille Paglia, Natasha Walter or Naomi Wolf never have. For the first time since the 1970s, I find myself cross on behalf of women, and rather inclined to take up cudgels. What has swayed me are not statistics or arguments but real stories of sexism. So far she has collected more than 60,000 of them, which sit there online, hard to ignore or dismiss." One feminist critic has been uncomplimentary. "Simply coughing up outrage into a blog will get us nowhere", wrote
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century.
Specializing in English and women's literatu ...
in the ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' when she reviewed Bates' book ''Everyday Sexism'' in May 2014.
In April 2014, Bates was named as one of Britain's most influential women in the BBC ''
Woman's Hour
''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946.
History
Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...
'' Power List 2014.
Campaign outcomes
In January 2014, Everyday Sexism successfully campaigned for the removal of the
mobile app
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...
''Plastic Surgery & Plastic Doctor & Plastic Hospital Office for Barbie Version'' from the
App Store
An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...
and
Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android (operating sys ...
, for its promotion of a poor perspective on the concept of
body image
Body image is a person's thoughts, feelings and perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. The concept of body image is used in a number of disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, ps ...
to those of a young age.
The Everyday Sexism Project has advised
British Transport Police
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, abbreviation = BTP
, patch =
, patchcaption =
, logo = British Transport Police Logo.svg
, logocaption = Logo of the British Transport Police
, badge =
, badgecaption =
, f ...
on the training of their officers to respond to complaints of unwanted sexual behaviour as part of
Project Guardian
Project Guardian is a joint initiative between British Transport Police (BTP), the Metropolitan Police Service ("the Met"), the City of London Police, and Transport for London (TfL), which aims to combat and increase reporting of sexual harassm ...
, an initiative to increase reporting of sexual offences on public transport in London.
Bates told Brogan Driscoll of ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' in April 2015: "The entries have been used to work on policy with ministers and members of parliament in multiple countries, to start conversations about consent in schools and universities, to tackle sexual harassment in businesses and workplaces and to help police forces raise the reporting and detection rates on sexual offences."
Further reading
*
See also
*
Everyday Lesbophobia, website about the negativity and discrimination faced by lesbians
References
External links
*
Everyday Sexismon
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
Women Under Siege
{{feminism
Feminist websites
Sexism
Fourth-wave feminism