PORTLAND, Ore. — "What is the internet crying about" is a weekly opinion segment that talks about what the internet has been chatting about. Sometimes it’s nerd themed, this week it isn’t.
Honestly, I love to see strong women shutting down sexists.
Our own Maggie Vespa had to deal with a little bit of that this past week. She went viral after addressing rude and unnecessary comments (riddled with misspellings, too) that a man said to her over social media about her choice of high-waisted pants.
And her response? Incredible.
Before she knew it, she was being retweeted, picked up by the AP and the Washington Post, oh yeah and Inside Edition.
It’s incredible that a woman standing up for herself makes the newscycle. You would think there would be no need but here we are. And Maggie did so with aplomb and grace and I am so happy to call her a coworker.
Women face intense criticism online where sexists feel safe to troll. But put your face and body into any form of media (like television) and for some reason, it seems like an invitation for people to say rude things.
Women do not exist to please you. They don’t exist to dress to your standards, fit your ideal of normal or pretty.
Shockingly, women are who they want to be. They dress how they would like and it’s not a bit of your business. If Maggie or any other woman wants to wear the waistline of her pants up to her eyeballs, so be it.
So thank you to Maggie for standing up and being proud and reminding us that all that noise out there criticizing you is just that: noise.
Destiny Johnson is a digital reporter at KGW. Follow Maggie on Twitter, the author of this article thinks she's great @Maggie_Vespa. Follow Destiny too, @hello_destiny but she's just okay. She posts pictures of her cute dog though, so might be worth it. She has a YouTube channel where she talks about nerd news and reviews comic books KGW Comic Pick of the Week.