An Open Letter to My Male Friends Who Make Sexist "Jokes"

Put that "joke" aside for a moment.

I don't mean to put it out of your mind.

I mean separate from your words two parts: (1) your attempt at comedy and (2) the true words you have said or typed.

Don't your words make you sad?

You try to force a laugh where there is no comedy.

And laughter, like tears, make us vulnerable. The emotional connection of a laugh imprints upon us as a truth. Sexist "jokes" become psychological patches in the glass ceiling we're trying to break. 

I ask you, as a leader future and present, to think twice, or three times for good measure, before speaking, writing and yes... tweeting sexist comments. It's not about political correctness or cultural difference, it's about women having it harder than men in many ways as it is. We face enough of an uphill battle against the many myths I dare not type; if you're my friend, you'll help me up, not put me and my fellow women down. 

We need you as allies. So make jokes about sex, love, politics... we'll laugh with you. But try to form humor around backward concepts about gender, and we will not laugh alongside you. And don't tell me to "stop hatin'" on sexism. I will hate on it. Because it hated on me first.