It's a story we once heard all the time about women on the internet: harassment is brutal and near-constant. As algorithms have become more sophisticated, however, those in certain bubbles might have thought this level of abuse was a thing of the past. But in online spaces dedicated to blue-collar trades work, which have exploded in popularity in recent years and are now reaching more young women than ever, it's very much alive and normalized.
Just one example is the hashtag #BlueCollarBabe, which has over 135,000 posts on TikTok. It's a lineup of mostly beautiful, thin, young women cracking jokes about sexist stereotypes and what they wear to work. The comments range from creepy catcalling to callous and condescending ("If you're up there, who is operating the 'slow'/'stop' sign"), and frequently question everything from a woman's makeup and nails to the dirtiness of her equipment (anything remotely clean-looking is considered suspect). Yet, Gen Z women want to work in trades, despite it all. We spoke to some of these tradeswomen about their experiences — read more about the not-so-hidden price they're paying for being a blue collar babe. |
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