I can honestly say that my abuela was sexist. She’s no longer alive, she died what feels like a very long time ago, but I can still remember how my blood would boil at some of the sexist things she would say to me.
Of course she told me I had to learn to cook, clean, sew and all that jazz or no one would want to marry me. That stuff is typical and expected, right? But she would also say things to me that I thought were totally weird. For example she was incredibly talented at ironing clothes. It was a point of pride with her and one day she was teaching me how to iron a shirt and telling me what order it should be done in. At one point she kind of exasperatedly said to me, “Don’t they teach you this at school?” I rolled my eyes and thought, “Uh, NO!” Why the hell would they be teaching me how to iron a shirt in school? Had abuela lost her sexist mind?
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It never once occurred to me that when my abuela went to school she was taught things like how to iron, cook and sew. What did I know, I never even went to a school that offered a home economics class and if I had the option to take one I would NOT have done it because AS IF?!
I was so convinced that my abuela didn’t get me and maybe she didn’t, but what I failed to realize at the time was that I didn’t get my abuela either and that’s really too bad because I’m sure I could have learned so much more from her if I wasn’t so caught up in what I considered her prohibitive sexism. I mean we are all a product of our times, no? I basically threw the baby out with the bathwater, qué lastima.
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Anyway, I tell you about my sexist abuela because Johanna Housmann from The Flama made a video about sexist things that abuelitas say and not only did it make me laugh, it made me miss my abuela and all the sexist stuff she used to say to me. Check out the video below for a good laugh:
If I ever have grandkids I wonder what they will think of the stuff that comes out of my mouth.
Is your abuela sexist?
Image via love2photo/Flickr
That video was fun! I learned to sew, cook, clean and iron in High School.
I think they are life skills that all genders should be taught at school. It only becomes a sexist issue if it’s only girls that are taught these skills. I also think it’s good if things like car maintenance and woodwork etc are taught too. My daughters can’t cook, sew, iron, clean, fix a car etc. It worries me that all these life skills are no longer being taught.
I agree with you. I did end up learning how to cook and sew and all those things even though I tried really hard not to, but it somehow seeped in. I can’t stand not knowing more about how to fix my car. I don’t even know how to change the oil that’s not good.