Hello ladies and sons of ladies': women are using microfeminisms' to flip the gender script

Microfeminisms are small actions for women’s equality that challenge everyday sexism without relying on protests or donations. Examples include putting a woman’s name first in greetings, updating a surname only after official name-change documents are signed, and using gendered language that corrects assumptions. People share playful but pointed practices such as greeting “ladies” first, assuming men are not the default audience, calling spiders “MOMMY long legs,” planting only female trees, giving better portions to women when serving couples, and using “she” for unknown animal gender. These actions connect to microaggressions, which are routine biases like surveillance of Black customers or dismissing an out child as “just a phase.” Microfeminisms push back on these patterns.

"When Tori Dunlap writes a letter or email to a heterosexual couple, she puts the woman's name first in the greeting. When her good friend got married, Dunlap waited until the name-change documents were officially signed to update her surname in her phone contact. These tiny rebellions are not activism. They are microfeminisms, or what Dunlap, 31, describes as little actions for women's equality, as opposed to going to a protest or donating to a cause you believe in."

"Dunlap, a Seattle-based author and podcast host who focuses on promoting women's financial literacy, posted on TikTok last year asking her 2.4 million followers: Tell me your most unhinged way that you practice microfeminism. The comments section filled with niche and not entirely serious answers, such as starting every work presentation by saying hello ladies and sons of ladies and immediately assuming men are talking about women's sports instead of men's."

"Women on TikTok have revived the trend in recent weeks, sharing their own microfeminisms. I call the spiders MOMMY long legs, one user wrote in the caption of her TikTok. Only planting female trees in my yard, said one commenter. As a waitress, whenever a couple orders the same thing, I give the larger portion or better looking one to the female, wrote another."

"The term microfeminism recalls the concept of microaggressions, or everyday instances of bias based on race, gender, sexual orientation or disability: the store manager who follows around Black customers thinking they will shoplift, or the parent telling their newly out child that it's just a phase. Microfeminisms push back on"

Read at www.theguardian.com