The Minority Report | Ashley Kim

An episode of Netflix’s Master of None titled, “Ladies and Gentleman,” chronicles Dev’s (Aziz Ansari) denial in coming to terms with the discrepancies in the way men and women are treated in society.

A scene in the episode shows Dev in a bar with male and female friends. A colleague approaches them and introduces himself to only the males at the table. Rachel (Nöel Wells), Dev’s girlfriend, points out being ignored, but Dev rejects the idea that she would be ignored simply because of her gender.

A few weeks ago, something similar happened to me. I was covering a Rockies game for the Sentry with our photography editor, Bobby. As I gawked at being in the press box for the first time, the Rockies’ official photographer came over to introduce himself to both of us or so I thought.

He had completely glanced over me and introduced himself only to Bobby, continuing to engage in a conversation only with Bobby. I ended up introducing myself to him, and it was immediately followed with regret. My mind was flooded with questions rooted in insecurities. Did I just insult him? Was I being rude? Maybe he just didn’t see me? Maybe he’s blind in one eye?

Maybe ignoring me wasn’t intentional. But, I also don’t have a reason to defend him. Yet, here I am, still justifying his actions. The encounter thoroughly bothered me and, obviously, still does, but I haven’t said anything about it until now. And, isn’t that the irony of it all?

Women are trained to believe our voices don’t matter, and when we do speak up, we do it insecurely but fully armored.

What I’m trying to say is: me too. This isn’t the worst thing that has happened to be on account of sexism, but that’s not to discredit it happening at all.

It should be no secret that I believe media has a large responsibility in shaping people’s worldviews. I hope that shows like Master of None continue to expose the too-frequently unspoken microaggressions toward women, and as a result begins to undo sexism. Maybe that’s too optimistic, but progress is progress, no matter how slow.