23 sexist phrases that you should eliminate from your vocabulary

Proverbs, popular sayings and clichés that reinforce the idea that women are worth less.

Macho phrases: we hear them day after day, in any context.. They are popular expressions, proverbs and sayings that undervalue the role of women in our society.

Although formally women have been achieving the majority of rights during the last century in the West, the truth is that, still in the XXI century, there are different aspects in which they do not enjoy the same visibility or consideration compared to men.

Related articles:

• "Micromachismos: 4 subtle displays of everyday sexism"
• "100 feminist phrases of great female thinkers in history".
• "The 18 best quotes by feminist Judith Butler"
• "50 Simone de Beauvoir's phrases to understand her thought"

Macho phrases, sayings and proverbs

Among those who believe that women should not have so many rights, we find disparate specimens: backward people who, in general, only conceive of women as a secondary actor, relegated to jobs of lesser social relevance and to the care of children and the elderly.

This discrimination is based on archaic gender roles.. Fortunately, times are changing, and yet we still continue to hear these detestable phrases that place women in inferiority.

In this article we wanted to compile some of these phrases that we must banish from our vocabulary and from our lives..

1. Men are rational and women are emotional.

A phrase that has to do with psychology and that contains a cliché that has little or nothing to do with reality.

2. You're a little nervous... you're not having one of those days?

Pointing out menstruation to ridicule a woman who is legitimately upset about something is simply deeply sexist.

3. A lot of feminism but... women don't say anything when they are let into discos for free.

The reason why some nightclubs let women in for free is to use them as a sexist lure for more men to attend. Fortunately, this practice has recently been banned in Spain.

4. Feminism is like machismo but in reverse

Feminism fights for equality between men and women, while machismo is the caveman way of thinking that leads us to discriminate and take away women's rights and freedoms. Therefore, machismo and feminism are not "the same but in reverse".

• Recommended article: "Feminazis: a feminist current? too radical?"

5. Women drive worse and cause more accidents

In fact, it is exactly the opposite. Women cause fewer traffic accidents than men.

6. Women behind the wheel, constant danger... Women had to be!

Another terrible cliché about women's supposed lack of driving skills.

7. (In a job interview): Are you planning to have children?

A hindrance of our societies: companies that do not hire women for fear that they will become pregnant.. This prevents great professionals from accessing relevant positions, which are mostly occupied by men.

8. You look fantastic in that dress

Of course, a compliment can be welcome if the context is right. However, most women complain that men often abuse these compliments about their physique, making them feel only valid through their image and beauty, and not as human beings.

9. You fight like a woman!

To ridicule the way women fight, run or play sports is to ignore their physical potential.

10. Let's scrub!

This one doesn't even deserve an explanation.

11. Dressed like this you look like a tart

It is exceptionally sexist to want to impose a way of dressing on a woman, and even more so if it is to coerce her by telling her that she is "too daring".

12. Smart like daddy, pretty like mommy

This was the slogan of a T-shirt printed for boys and girls by the Hipercor brand. Gender roles in their most putrid expression.

13. The more premium, the more she gets closer

An allegedly funny phrase that hypersexualizes women.

14. I bought my wife a necklace for her birthday. And you bought yours? Me nothing, I still let her loose

Another joke in really bad taste that trivializes the role of women in society.

15. Why don't women need their own car? Because from the kitchen to the living room there is not so much distance.

Another funny saying that isn't funny at all.

16. A woman's "no" means: "beg me a little more".

A sexist phrase that leaves the door open to attitudes close to rape.

17. I hate the learned woman. I hope a woman who knows more than she ought to know does not come into my house (Euripides).

Famous quote? of the Greek philosopher.

18. Micromachisms are nonsense. There are much more important things to worry about

By minimizing the existence of micromachismos we also help to perpetuate sexism.

19. She probably got that job because she slept with someone else.

When, after much effort, a woman gets a good job, she is criticized and her professional worth is questioned.

20. Women should be chosen to be beautiful and slender, they take care of making themselves fat and ugly.

Another sexist saying to the core.

21. Women don't like nice guys, they prefer 'bad boys'.

An absurd generalization about heterosexual women's preferences and appetites.

22. If a woman is a lesbian... it will be because she has not tried a good man.

Heteropatriarchy in its most degrading expression.

23. I am not a rapist nor have I ever beaten a woman in my life. This fight of feminism does not suit me.

Feminism is the responsibility of everyone, without exception.