American professional poker player and Instagram famous Dan Bilzerian posted a picture to Instagram on National Women’s Day on Mar. 8, which displayed Bilzerian in a hot tub with naked women bending over to represent a table. Bilzerian tweeted, “It’s National Women’s Day, be thankful, they are good for so many things!”

Sadly, Bilzerian didn’t take it down, ignoring everything and seeing it as an “angry feminist” issue. It was great to see feminists and women around the world attack Bilzerian about how disrespectful his post was.

Women tweeted things like “This is disgusting” or “Shame on you for making her your table.” A lot of men, however, were tweeting “Dude, you are my hero” or “Dan is the man!”

A feud happened between men and women on Twitter, a lot of men were praising Bilzerian for having an entourage of beautiful women he “picks” from.

We must ask: why is this happening?

It has a lot to do with the way women are represented in the media. Films like “Bad Teacher,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and “Mr. and Ms. Smith” are some examples. In these films, although women might be the main role, their character lacks depth and is portrayed as overly sexualized and existing only for benefit of men.

Young impressionable minds learn how to treat women based on how they see women being represented in movies, music videos, and other forms of media. Viewers of media regarding what they see as “the truth,” or an example, for how they too should act.

If the only women they see in the media are overly sexualized women, and they see other characters responding to them by engaging them only because of their “sexiness,” this sends out a strong message that this is how people should behave around women.

Although it is a societal issue, men can prevent it from happening and women can begin to stand up and fight!

Men can talk to their sisters, mothers, and friends.

Women are more complex than how they are shown in the film. Ask them how they feel about the topic. When you watch a movie, question the way women are being portrayed in their roles. Are they given as many lines as men? When they speak, is it something of substance, or simply regarding fun, or fashion? How are they dressed? Paying attention to things like this will make you aware. Once you are aware then you can begin to recognize that it’s wrong and dismiss those representations of women.

On another note, women can also fight against this. They can remind the men in their lives to treat them with respect by demanding respect. They can call out sexist remarks, and remind men about their worth and value in society.