The Types Of Hostile Sexism In The Gender Equality Movement

Sexism is defined as prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex, and is a topic that has been on and off the media throughout the years, becoming more prevalent in the 21st century. Many iconic figures throughout the ages have spoken out for women, people like Mahatma Gandhi, who said “Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so degrading, so shocking, or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity; to me, the female sex is not the weaker sex.” Sexism has been around for about as long as the human race, dating back to biblical times and beyond. A woman’s traditional role in the family has been that of the cook, the cleaner, the child raiser, and the gardener.

American sexism has changed dramatically over the years, but it is far from perfect. Today many women in America face sexism in many areas throughout their lives; especially in workplaces. Women face sexist stereotype that holds them back from rising up as corporate ladders, especially in jobs that have a high ratio of men compared to women. Sexist comments such as “women are weak to do this kind of job” , “these are men 's jobs” and ”women are too emotional to work” often causes a woman to be cautious of how she acts, making sure she is not feminine or that she does not cause trouble or repercussions. But, that is not all sexism is doing, often times women face discrimination at workplaces especially after entering motherhood.

Sexism is the ideology that maintains that one sex is inherently inferior to the other. Sexism or discrimination based on gender has been a social issue for many years; it is the ideology that one sex is superior or inferior to the other. Sexism does not only affect females, but also males. Men are very often victimized by social stereotypes and norms based on gender expectations. Sexism has appears in almost all social institutions including family, the media, religion, sports, the military, politics, and the government. However, although both genders are affected, men have benefited from sexism the most (Thompson 300-301.)

Sexism is defined as prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s sex or gender. Although sexism is often discussed in regards to females, it affects both males and females. Statistically though, it affects more women on average than men. Sexism can occur in many different situations and has two distinctly different forms. Hostile sexism is a more overt form of sexism that encompasses the negative evaluations and stereotypes about a gender. Examples include actions such as promoting a male employee over a female employee simply based on gender and stereotypes about women such as the idea that women belong in the kitchen. Benevolent sexism is sometimes more difficult to identify in an everyday setting as it is covert and appears subjectively positive. Benevolent sexism is harmful as it perpetuates the ideas that women are weaker than men and are not capable of doing

Women first gained the right to vote on August 26, 1920 with the 19th amendment was approved, giving women full voting rights. Fortified by the constitutional victory in 1920, the handful of new women in Congress embarked on what would become a century-long journey to broaden women’s role in government. In the intervening years, the drive for more women’s rights encompassed the lives of the next generations of women. Even today, women are still fighting for their rights and stand up against prejudice. On the forefront of this movement are our women congresswomen who speak on behalf of all women. When Hillary Clinton announced her presidential candidacy, controversial questions immediately surfaced about the role of gender in politics. Through Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008 and 2016, media is the principal propagator in showing bias and sexism.

When we hear the word sexism most minds automatically associate feminine oppression. I began to wonder why that was. Webster defines sexism as “prejudice based on sex; especially: discrimination against women.” After reading this I had to know why that was.

While studying art and popular culture in class, our class came across a very interesting topic and story. Throughout time everything has changed in humanity, in the way that humans look at one another. Now in the 1980’s when the whole AIDS and HIV epidemic started that’s when the whole world saw the disgrace in each other. Now in class learning about the disgrace that women had upon the world because of HIV and AIDS has really changed in a way that women are not allowed to be free within themselves anymore. The woman of today have to deal with sexism, classism and even racism just in order to survive in this world. But even through all of this women are still strong and fight for what they believe in and never give up, no matter what

Often times, benevolent sexism is mistaken for a well-intentioned compliment. However, there are real world dangers that come with assigning a stereotype to an individual. Within business, one of the most common forms of benevolent sexism is assuming that because a woman has the ability to bear children she should engage in any nurturing roles. Melanie Tannenbaum elucidates the issue with labeling women as more caring, maternal, and compassionate in the 2013 article, “The Problem When Sexism Just Sounds So Darn Friendly”. Tannenbaum states:

The article I read was You’re Sexist. And So Am I from USA Today. This article went into discussing how everyone has internalized sexism, believing in sexism in their head, whether they like to believe it or not. This is because society teaches people norms that women must follow in order for them to be respected. As we have discussed in class, this is the idea of subjectivity because all of these social codes are predetermined and that makes them very difficult to change. One example of this was in the article when it talked about how women often chose their careers around them someday becoming mothers. Women are expected to have children and then take time off from work to raise their children. No one believes that men should be expected to stay at home and raise children because it is not the societal norm. Therefore when a woman chooses a career around impending motherhood, she is falling into subjectivity.

Sexism, is a prejudice plain and simple. One of the earliest forms of violence directed toward women was the Witch Hunt Trials of the Middle Ages. Bishops debated whether a woman was really human at all. If her nose were too long, she had red hair, a humped back, or if she was exceptionally beautiful, she was thought to be a witch and was burned at the stake. There was an estimated nine million women burned during the Witch Trials. During the “Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960’s, feminist theorists explained that oppression of women was widespread in nearly all human society, and spoke of sexism instead of male chauvinism. Male chauvinists were usually individual men who expressed the belief that they were superior to women” (Napikoski). By the mid 20th century sexism was established and began to appear in advertising. Between the 1970’s and 1990’s women began to feel more equal to men until the 1980’s where they were portrayed as sex symbols on national television (The Origin and History of SEXISM). There are two main types of sexism, benevolent and hostile, and their definitions are opposite from one another. Hostile sexism is what most people perceive as sexism today as it seems sexism is occurring more and more often and is, notably, more vulgar. It is the notion that women are inferior or not as worthy; a belief that males are intrinsically superior. For many years women have been degraded and looked down upon with the idea that their place is in the kitchen with

The flip side of these apparent advantages to women is that the seemingly positive effects of benevolent sexism typically only apply to women who are gender-role conforming, rather than women as a whole. Women in traditional domestic roles may benefit, but there are negative consequences for those who do not fit these roles. The idea that women need to be protected or taken care of is in some lights flattering, but it also portrays women as childlike, helpless, incompetent, and as a result suited only for lower status roles. Women are also more likely to accept sexist restrictions on behavior when the reason given is benevolently sexist (Becker & Wright, 2011). By extension of these examples, benevolent sexism is just another way of justifying gender inequality and maintaining the current power dynamic of the patriarchy.

Ideologies surrounding benevolence sexism are constructed on a basis of doubt; for instance a woman being appraised for her accomplishments, while highlighting the disbelief that she can accomplish that specific task. Benevolence sexism gives rise to positive attitude towards women’s accomplishments, while placing a gender gap on what they are able to accomplish, when compared to men. According to, Viki & Abrams (2002), Benevolent sexism is any form of expressive acts that are discriminatory towards women, but appear to be positive and gratifying.

From the get involved assignment, I learned of two kinds of sexism: hostile and benevolent sexism. Hostile sexism involve negative feelings towards women such as “women are incompetent”; while benevolent sexism a knight-in-shining armor ideology that offers protection and affection to women who conform to traditional gender roles (ASI: Understanding prejudice). Furthermore, benevolent women may want the protection of males when they find themselves in certain situations and places that they find particularly dangerous (Yoder 2017).

Sexism refers to all those practices and attitudes that promote the differential treatment of people because of their biological sex, which are assumed characteristics and behaviors. The sexist practices mainly affect women given the validity of cultural beliefs that consider them inferior or unequal to men by nature. I could say that not only women are affected by sexism, it's been situations in which I've also been victim of sexism. I remember having gone out to dinner with many friends, when we arrived at the restaurant we have a delicious dinner. After dinner, it is so uncomfortable time to pay the bill. The waiter comes and leaves that little notebook on the table with a piece of white paper within that contains the amount

In the research conducted by Hald et al., benevolent sexism is loosely defined as attitudes toward women which categorize them as being helpless, sensitive, and more likely than men to crave intimacy. Hostile sexism is defined as more blatant inferiority and/or disgust associated with, in this case, women. Garos et al. note that benevolent sexism is seemingly positive, but is associated with a close-minded view of women as it holds them to stereotypical views and standards.