The other day, I found myself scrolling through the cesspool that is Facebook — a place that somehow manages to blend distant relatives’ political rants with the worst of humanity’s online behavior. Out of nowhere, Facebook recommended a NASCAR racing meme group to me. (Thanks, algorithm.)
Curious but cautious, I clicked through — only to be immediately disgusted. The recommended post wasn’t a clever racing meme. It was a bunch of grown men making fun of a young female ARCA driver’s appearance. They were mocking her, saying she looked like another male driver in drag. It wasn’t just a throwaway joke; it was cruel, pointed, and absolutely bullying.
I reported the post to Facebook, thinking, “Surely this crosses the line.” After all, Facebook claims to care about bullying, harassment, and protecting users. But apparently, in their eyes, this didn’t meet their criteria. I even went through the trouble of appealing their decision, asking them to re-review it. Still, the verdict stood: no action needed.
I genuinely don’t know what Facebook thinks bullying is if that isn’t it.
She’s clearly doing what she loves — racing — and doing it well. She isn’t there to impress them with her looks. (For the record, she doesn’t even look bad — she just looks like a normal, determined athlete, not a model. And why the hell should she have to?)
Men don’t have to constantly think about how “attractive” they are when pursuing their passions. They can just exist. But when a woman steps into a male-dominated arena, she’s still judged by a completely different, far more superficial standard. It’s pathetic. It’s exhausting. And it’s infuriating.
The fact that so many grown men still behave like 13-year-olds is depressing. Even worse, companies like Facebook — with all their talk of community standards and protecting users — clearly don’t actually give a damn when it really counts.
Shame on them. As for the bunch of 50 year old men mocking a 20 year old woman’s appearance. Stay classy, losers.
