Forcing Women to Smile in Careers is Oppression
Forcing Women to Smile in Careers is Oppression
Recently, older men have begun to decry the “Gen Z” stare, a supposed unenthusiastic expression that they see in younger workers. They lament at the loss of a supposed traditional customer service, where everything was better and more personable.
The reality is that the “Gen-Z” stare is what should actually be the actual state of affairs in a proper employee and customer interaction. Employees should not have to be forced to smile or fake emotions. How often have women been forced to smile or to have an unnaturally high-pitched voice? This is commonly forced onto women by male managers in America. It’s culturally endemic in societies like Japan, where women in customer service roles are made to adopt the behavior of young girls. It is wrong and pedophilic.
Workers, especially female workers, are not there to do emotional labor for others, unless they are being paid to be a therapist. Workers do not need to smile to serve customers food, organize their groceries, or give customers instructions. We have for too long had a fake traditionalist society where smiles and sincerity are forced. Now, women are finally getting the chance to be free. We do not have to smile. We are at work to perform a job. And if the managers in our workplace require smiling when it has nothing to do with productivity, then we will leave and find another job.
Men as customers are dangerous and falsely attach themselves to any small cues that they believe signals a women’s interest in them. Men assume that a women smiling or acting nice means that the women wants to have sex with them. Some male managers know this and push women to engage in false behaviors in order to appear sexually available to male customers. Women are not at work to engage with men’s delusions. They must be allowed to show their disinterest in customers beyond helping with clearly job-related tasks.
Being free from emotional labor isn’t only about being able to express disinterest verbally; women must also not be required to appear happy or excited for any man that walks into an establishment. Women do not exist for men’s validation.
Let the “Gen-Z” stare live on, and let more young workers adopt it into their work routine. Traditionalist men have brought much pain and suffering to this world and have avoided taking any responsibility for their actions. If these misogynistic men stop shopping at establishments because women won’t smile at them, then so be it.
You do not have to smile at anyone. Being forced to smile is oppression. Continue to stare, and let them not see fake excitement, but the true feminine rage behind it. ♀
Written by Delfina