Plenty of us know that the gender of our babies doesn’t matter—we’ll love ‘em to bits no matter who they are. However, the way that some nations on Earth look down on girls with disdain, as well as the inherent pro-male bias still present in the West (gender reveal parties, anyone?) shows us that we’ve still got a long way to go toward equality.
TikTok user Emraynea, aka teenager Emma from Arizona, made a viral video in which she’s calling out sexist men who don’t want to have a daughter. She then goes on to explain that she herself would be scared to have a daughter because of these kinds of men and the sons that they raise poorly.
Check out Emma’s full video below, dear Pandas, and once you’re done watching it, share your thoughts below.
You can watch Emma's powerful and candid TikTok video right here
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Image credits: emraynea
Gender reveal parties and the reactions of some parents are one example of having a sexist mindset
Image credits: Talske
These sorts of reactions happen even in viral videos
Image credits: Talske
Emma’s video got over 1.9 million likes, 31.9k comments, and was shared more than 107.1k times on TikTok. A lot of people praised the high school senior for calling out some men’s clear preference to have a son instead of a daughter.
The TikToker pointed out that if she were to ever have a daughter, she’d have to teach her how to protect herself from other people’s sons. Emma also touched upon the sensitive topics of teenage pregnancy, non-consensual relationships, and others.
"So, how about instead of hoping and praying that you don't have a daughter, you go ahead and realize why you don't want to have a daughter, and that's because you're scared of other boys looking at her the way that you look at girls today. And that's all,” Emma ended her video on a very powerful note, showing some men’s hypocrisy and denial.
Emma told BuzzFeed’s very own Shelby Heinrich that she hopes her videos can change other people’s perspectives and stir up some change.
“I believe that there are much more important issues involved in worrying about having a daughter than her being comfortable with her own body, like the things I listed in the video. You’ll find comments [from men] like that all over the app. Mainly on videos of women showing a bit of skin or talking about their sexuality openly,” she told BuzzFeed.
“I 100% think men and women are treated differently on the app. A woman cannot post a video of herself without men in the comments degrading, sexualizing, or insulting her. However, a man can post whatever he wants and be praised for it,” Emma shared that sexism is rampant on TikTok.
“Something I never see being talked about is how scary it actually is to live in this world as a woman. Speaking for myself and lots of other women, we live in constant fear of men. I can't name one woman in my life who hasn’t been sexually assaulted, abused, or harassed by men. From a young age, we’re taught how to protect ourselves from men, but why aren’t we teaching men from a young age how to control themselves and respect women?”
Here's how some people have been reacting to Emma's take on sexism and society
