Have you ever been told to smile? That you look too moody/sad/etcetera?
Well, I have and so have many different women on the internet. I searched up 'why do women get told to smile so much' on Google and a bazillion different websites and articles popped up with headings asking several similar questions/telling us similar opinions:
the sexism of being told to smile
 why it's time to stop telling women to smile
 why you shouldn't tell a woman to smile
and so many more
I am only a teenager and I probably can't count the number of times someone has said that to me on my hands. It's over ten, that's for sure (hence the hand thing. Did it make sense? Probably not).
I would like to point out that that's kind of sexist.
Okay, not kind of. Definitely sexist.
I have a brother, yes? We're the same age, go to the same school, yada yada yada. Neither of us are particularly out-going. A male relative has told me to smile because I looked 'angry' whilst walking around the house. If I recall correctly, he also said I wouldn't get a husband with that face. However, did he say a thing to my brother? NOPE. There's no "how are you going to get married if you're always frowning?" type of questions thrown at him.
[ of course, I love my brother and my family but this is the type of thing that society is teaching us and I would like to prove that! ]
Is that all I am? Is that my only purpose in life: to find a husband?
There's no doubt about that: just thinking that is one-hundred per cent, no-messing-about, no-beating-around-the-bush sexist. It's plain wrong to say that.
I have dreams. I have aspirations. I should have every single opportunity that a man has in life, but the sad truth is I probably don't.
Of course, us women have the vote now, don't we? As of 1928 in Britain, females over the age of 21 got the right to vote. But only after centuries of, I dunno, men having the vote? They had it all along! Sure, not the poorer men but still, so long as you were born into the right family then you got to have your say politics-wise. Back then, you could be a woman born into the same family and yet have no vote in the slightest. Not a sausage.
So why do I care so much about all this?
I'm able to vote - what more do I need?
I need equal rights for all women. I need a woman to be able to walk out of the house without some nosy, stuck-up relative or neighbor to accuse me of trying to hook up with someone or of being a prostitute. I need to not be asked if I'm on my period any time I look slightly less happy than a woman 'should'.
Do you men get strangers telling you to look happy?
If you do, then I'm sorry. I really am.
But please, don't tell a woman to look happy just because you want her to. Why do you do it? Why does society have this idea that men can look as miserable as they want yet women, no matter what's going on in their lives, must have a smile on their faces at all times? We might have the vote but I also want the right to have whatever expression I want on my damn face!
I would apologise for coming off a little too harsh, but I don't want to.
Try and force me to smile. Tell me I look too miserable. Go on, you know society wants you to.
I'm not backing down. I will look sad when I want to look sad, and if I'm angry for some reason that that is my business and only mine.
Thanks for reading! Remember I love you all, don't forget to love yourself, too.
I'll see you next time.
~ Polly