Worth

By Mia Chan and Arianna Carandang

Objectification - Mia Sanchez-Williams

In Sanchez-Williams’ freshman year at AHS, she was forced to endure misogyny every day in her math class. She felt incredibly uncomfortable in that class due to the comments the long term sub made towards her. Sanchez-Williams explains how she was treated:

“He was really creepy towards me. He would squat in front of my desk and tell me that all the guys were distracted by me because I was hot and really pretty and all this weird stuff.” Sanchez-Williams said. “He would tell me this stuff everyday.”

Sanchez-Williams didn’t feel comfortable in her math class and though she eventually switched out of the class, the situation that took place still affected her. People would disregard her feelings whenever she told her story because the long term sub was well liked by students. And though many have told her to, Sanchez-Williams didn’t want to “stick it through” the class and have to deal with the uncomfortable treatment just for a passing grade. This event affected how Sanchez-Williams views and feels about herself.

“It just made me feel taken advantage of and like creepy, I don’t want people to see me that way.” Sanchez-Williams said.

Underestimated - Sophomore Sofia Cruz

As an Automadon, Cruz designs, builds, and tests hydrogen cars. Her group is majority male and she is one of the few females. Cruz is the main engineer for the group and comes up with many of their ideas. She feels that every time she suggests something, the boys in her group disregard her idea and when she does something they don’t acknowledge her work. Cruz has also noticed that when one of the boys in her group suggests a similar idea as hers, he’d be praised by everyone.

“Just because I classify myself as a female , that shouldn’t dehumanize me or insert who I am as a person under random societal stereotypes.” Cruz said.

As a result of being constantly underestimated, Cruz works harder. She believes that because she is a woman, she has to try harder than men in order to stand out or gain recognition, especially in the STEM field. Cruz uses her negative experiences as motivation and pushes herself to try harder and do better.

Illustrated by Arianna Carandang

“I do feel the need to bring more to the plate to stand out within the crowd and there’s also that yearn for recognition and honor.” Cruz said. “The stem title is definitely without a doubt motivation. It’s a real slap in the face to society for underestimating women’s capabilities.”

Stereotyped - Sophomore Caeli Glymph

she talked about it in a class, she was hit with unexpected and unwarranted questions by a male classmate. The classmate was testing Glymph on the show as if she wouldn’t have watched it because she’s a girl. Questions along the lines of “How do you know about breaking bad?” and “Who’s the main character?” were asked to Glymph.

“He was quizzing me on the show and I don’t think he thought I would watch a show like that because it is kind of dark and is stereotypically a boys standard show.” Glymph said.

After this situation, Glymph felt like she couldn’t like things that are stereotypically considered “boys things” without judgment or questioning. This made Glymph feel irked because why is it so hard to believe a girl could enjoy something that a boy would typically enjoy? Women shouldn’t feel stuck in a box with a certain set of likes and dislikes.

“We aren’t allowed to do anything out of what a stereotypical girl does and if we do then it gets stereotyped as all these random things like ‘oh i think she wants to be a boy’ or ‘she’s such a pick me’ when really we are just expressing our interests.” Glymph said.