Miss Universe Australia Maria Thattil was added to a men's WhatsApp group accidentally. The sexism left her shocked - Read on

Misogyny and disrespect for women is a major concern, says Maria Thattil (Pic: Instagram/mariathattil)

Maria Thattil, who is Miss Universe Australia, was recently added to a WhatsApp group of 19-year-old males, by accident. And it turned out to be one harrowing experience. Maria, who has often spoken up on women empowerment of women and rights of girls, was shocked and disgusted on hearing what the young men had to say about the other gender. Maria shared that the men in the group spoke about women "like we are pieces of meat" and they kept on sexualising and degrading women. And when she decided to call them out for their sexist behaviour and when she did, only one boy responded. 

Maria in the instagram video said that while sexism affects all genders, "women are five times more prone to suffer from clinical depression because of sexism," cearly revealing the fact that women suffer far more than men because of gender stereotypes and gender-based harrasments.

She also said that while not all men indulge in similar behaviour, very few actually protest against such attitudes. "I once read a beautiful quote about how silence and complacency is siding with oppressors, so before any of you comment ‘not all men,’ know that the problem is… not all men speak up, fight for us, and challenge toxic ideals of masculinity. It starts in the group chat, and bleeds into society. Make the link, call it out, do better," she wrote on Instagram.

Talking about her experiences in high school, the 28-year-old shared that she was harassed, assaulted, lied to and lied about. But she never got an apology, not so much of an acknowledgement (from the men that this was wrong.) This was because this kind of behaviour has been normalised, Maria said, adding that the boys therefore didn't feel they have done anything wrong.  

Hitting out at the trend of dismissing harassment against women with statements like 'boys will be boys', Maria said that because of these attitudes, misogyny, hatered and disrespect for women thrive. And what's more dangerous is the fact that these very men will grow up to be politicians making our policies, they go on to become the men in the board rooms. So such sexist behaviour has far-reaching impact.

Maria said that she received several messages from women who have faced oppression and were harassed. Her social media post was also full of messages from women, and men, who lauded Maria's efforts of speaking out against sexism.