Questioning the point of it all.

Yesterday I was trying to relax after a stressful day by watching one of my favorite shows on Netflix. I had a pretty off day and I was really tightly wound up so I thought a 45 minute Psych episode would do me some good.

There was a point in the show where there were talking to a witness (it's a detective show) and they thought that the person was lying. They confronted her and got her to talk about the real story.

Gus: How did you guys know she was lying?

Shaun: Psychic...

Retired Male Detective: She's a Woman!

And I laughed at this. Me, a women's studies major, me, a woman that is always preaching how woman should be accepted as intellectual human beings. I gasped at the sexism and then I gasped again at my laughter. After I got through the initial shock, I felt sooo bad so I updated my status.

Then I closed that window and went about my business for the rest of the night. When I finally went about my business of checking my Facebook today, I found the comments on this status was very, well, mindshattering. Take a look.

Now usually I expect jokes about, "getting back to the kitchen" and "woman, stop bitching and make me a sandwich" but violence! I believe in free speech, which is why I did not delete their comments off my facebook page. They can leave it up there if they wish, but I did respond to them to tell them that it unacceptable. I'm surprised that someone didn't call them out on it earlier. In fact, I'm disappointed at my friends who saw these comments and didn't say a thing.

Violence is a serious issue. Violence against women is not acceptable to me. To make a joke about it is saying that you do not take that issue seriously, that it is justified. If you laughed at those jokes above (The first two) you should realign your morals and say that "you support men who beat their wives/partners". You are justifying that sick act of violence against another human being.

Can I seriously be living in a world where it is acceptable to make jokes about the pain of others? Can I seriously be living in a world where people think it is acceptable to beat their wives for "not listening"?

This is the world I live in and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of trying to make change when no one, no one listens. I'm tired... and I'm slowly burning out. Where can I find the motivation I had a year ago? six months ago? This comments used to make me want to do something and now they make me want to quit.

Maybe it's time to accept the world has too many problems that I will never be able to begin to solve. Should I give in to society because that is what everyone else seems to be doing? Should I stop getting angry at the sexist, racist remarks I see because that is what everyone else is doing?

I know I won't give up. But I have to admit, it would be easier to give up right now. I would live a different (easier) life if I gave in. But I would be bitter. And I would hate myself. And that's why I keep trying and I don't give up.