During a speech in Argentina focused on her girls’ education initiative “Let Girls Learn,” first lady Michelle Obama detailed her own experiences with sexism, relating how when she was a student, some teachers “would call on the boys instead of the girls, even though the girls had better grades,” or would question her brother about career ambitions but ask her what kind of man she wanted to marry.

She explained to the crowd how sexist comments would wear her down and make her doubt herself, saying: “As I got older, I found that men would whistle at me as I walked down the street, as if my body were their property, as if I were an object to be commented on instead of a full human being with thoughts and feelings of my own. I began to realize that the hopes I had for myself were in conflict with the messages I was receiving from people around me.” Eventually, she explained, she resolved to not listen to those who doubted or dismissed her, but  instead “decided to listen to my own voice.”

The first lady was visiting Argentina with her husband, after their historic two-day trip to Cuba.

Courtesy NewYork Times