Point of Contention #1: Santa Should Be Female/Gender-Neutral 

A survey was recently conducted by GraphicSprings that asked U.S and U.K citizens about opinions they had on various aspects of Santa and how he should be portrayed. Some of the questions included whether or not our cookie-loving gift-giver should go on a diet, ditch his reindeer for a flying car, and yes, whether or not Santa should be male or female.

4,000 people in total were surveyed, and 19% of the Americans surveyed believed he should be gender-neutral, and roughly 10% believed that Santa should be portrayed as a woman.

As one can easily see in the original chart, that comes out to 96 U.S citizens believing Santa should be gender neutral, and only 54 who believe he should be a woman. 364 American citizens believed he should remain male.

Let us not be the country to generalize an entire population of people based upon 150 people's opinions, especially when we live in a nation of over 300 million people.

On a side note, Santa Claus is based upon a real man named Saint Nicholas who you can learn more about here.

Point of Contention #2: ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ Is a Rape Culture Song 

The 1940's Christmas hit written by Frank Loesser for him and his wife to perform at dinner parties has become quite the topic of heated debates. Many people accuse liberals and the #MeToo movement for being too sensitive about the song and its meaning. While Loesser obviously did not write the song with the intention of it being about raping his wife (those would be pretty awkward dinner parties), it was written in the 1940's. You know, the same 40's where women were expected to be silent, barefoot, and pregnant?

While the song was not written to be about date rape, it shows how normalized it has become to not take no for an answer from a woman, the same actions women are fighting so hard to end today.

"What's in this drink?" We can't pretend that women don't live in a society where they have to have a constant eye on their drink and if it leaves their sight for just a second they have to toss out the whole thing out of fear. Date rape drugs are a real and serious issue.

"What's the sense in hurting my pride?" We shouldn't be teaching our children that women owe men anything. A woman can leave if she wants to and she shouldn't be blamed for 'hurting the man's pride.' No woman has to do anything she doesn't want to just to keep a man happy.

"I ought to say no, no, no sir (Mind if move in closer?)" Ladies, if you tell a man "no" the last response you want to hear is that he's going to come closer. No means no!

While we all know that the song was not originally written to be about rape, it wouldn't be smart to continue to play this song as a traditional Christmas tune for the future generations.

This is not about being overly emotional. It's about putting an end to the normalization of men not taking women seriously. An issue all women unfortunately know too well.

Point of Contention #3: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Has A Terrible Message 

The 1964 film that graces our televisions every holiday season has been found to be the culprit of quite a few offensive messages. This should not come as a surprise though, since it was in fact, released in the 60's. We are not the same society anymore and knowing the historical context for media artifacts such as this is pretty important.

Personally, I love Rudolph. However, I can't deny that there are issues with the film, many of which I already realized at a young age. Come on. Santa, the man we're told is always jolly and loving, was mean to the poor reindeer until he could be of use to him. And smaller pieces of the film stood out too, such as when Donner tells his wife that she can't join the search party for her son because "This is man's work," Donner, who does not take pride in his son, trying to force Rudolph to be normal, and the reindeer coach endorsing bullying.

The classic tale can still be enjoyed, but being aware of its problematic features is critical to ensuring actions such as the ones depicted, are not normalized in our culture again. We have come a long way as a society just to be told that there was nothing wrong with past time periods.

Point of Contention #4: Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays

As a Christian who celebrates all of Christmas's religious and cultural aspects, I grew up surrounded by many people and friends who did not celebrate the holiday. Take it from someone who learned the hard way (accidentally giving a Jewish teacher a Christmas card), people just want to be respected.

During a holiday season that is all about spreading joy and love, why are we so quick to feel offended when we are told we should acknowledge everyone's religion rather than just preaching our own?

Making it a habit to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is not downplaying your own beliefs, but just simply acknowledging that we share the holiday season with people who are of other beliefs. Christmas dominates our media, consumerism, and basically anywhere your line of sight falls between mid-October through December. The least we can do is make people of other religions feel seen and respected.