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Women are protesting this sexist billboard, and we’re totally with them

Women are protesting this sexist billboard, and we’re totally with them
Women are protesting this sexist billboard, and we’re totally with them

Ugh, why are people just the worst? In North Carolina, women are getting ready to protest a sexist billboard that went up near Winston-Salem. It says, “Real men provide. Real women appreciate it.” This weekend, a group of some very unappreciative women are taking to the streets to make sure people know they don’t agree.

Molly Grace, a woman who says she’s never organized a protest in her life, was mad enough at the message of the billboard to get on Facebook and gather other women who were just as appalled by the board. Grace told CNN that she wasn’t trying to get the billboard taken down — because that would be censoring speech, but just to make it known that the message is not well-taken.

“We are not protesting the right to have a billboard or express a message on it. This is only a protest against the type of thinking that creates a message like that,” she said.

She’s a much kinder woman than some would be about the whole thing. What’s crazy is that there are a lot of people who agree with the billboard — even some women who think it makes total sense. Which, hey, if you’re into that, why not?

Like the group who put the billboard up, but refuses to identify themselves to the almost 300 women coming out on Sunday morning to fight it.

The advertising group that put the board up, Whiteheart Outdoor Advertising, says that it won’t reveal it’s client but that the group plans on making an announcement soon about taking ownership of the message.

It’s insulting, Grace said, in that it basically tells women to, “shut up and smile and be grateful for what this man does for you,” as she told CNN. Even if you think old-fashioned gender norms are a fun thing, you can’t just go around saying that “real” men or women should do anything. Because, uh, there are a lot of women who provide, as many on Twitter have pointed out. Especially in Forsyth Counry, North Carolina where 40 percent of households are run by a single parent.

Of course there are people on Twitter who assume the women protesting are “feminazis.” Because of course misogynists would think that. Breitbart news, for example, tweeted about the billboard writing, “Tradition…” with a cute little music note emoji. Others say they hope “more” boards with the same kind of message go up soon. If that doesn’t make you want to take a plane or train down south as soon as possible to stand up for the women in North Carolina being told that they don’t run the world, Beyoncé-style. When everyone knows that they do. Sorry, boys.