How to deal with sexist remarks from SO's friends?

Jesus, not every guy wants to spend his private time drinking with friends campaigning to be the Nelson Mandela of the genders! They're not on a soapbox on the street corner, they're people hanging out. Sometimes it's just fun to let loose and be offensive or even God forbid have your own ideology. "Antifeminist comments"? That's like saying they're a different political party than you so you told your boyfriend that they should be quiet or switch to your party!

I will tell you right now that if you speak up about it and try to show how hurt the comments make you, one of two things can happen: 1) They'll clam up completely around you and not want you around because you're just more of the outside world they're trying to get a break from or 2) They may purposely increase what they're doing to drive you away. This is what guys do to each other.

Ever notice how guys insult each others' moms? It's a test of the person being insulted. Most of the time it shows that that person is in the inner circle. We'll even issue challenges in subtle little ways that can be laughed off when meeting new people at a BBQ to test what kind of person they are. For example, a guy in my group of friends says something insulting to me and I turn around, take what he said, and use it to insinuate that I did something with mom, that guy will give me a high five as if to say "Good game." If that happened in a bar with a complete stranger, fists would be flying and that's why people know not to talk like that with strangers. It means you let the shields down; your friends are allowed to burn you and vice versa because you're not threatened by your close friends and it's all in good fun. But if someone is hyper-sensitive to it, does not know how to take a joke, does not know how to verbally defend himself or doesn't have the maturity to let stuff slide off his back, he's going to be heckled even more. This will be in hopes that he either learns how to handle it and participate in the group, which makes the group more fun, learn how to just roll with it without giving up anything, or is driven away to be with other people who can't handle things. You don't have to agree with what they say but if you can't roll with it, you need to at least leave them alone to have their fun.

One key thing though is that there would definitely be an exception for you if you had been raped or you had a related, physically violent traumatic experience. Any normal guy would understand if you asked them not to tell those kinds of jokes because of that. Same if your best friend or a close relative went through it. Not saying they wouldn't still be disappointed that they had to tone down their fun but they'd understand and respect it.

/r/AskMen Thread