Sexism in Modern World

We are living in post-modern world and we hope/think/talk that we have evolved, and that lot of things are changed and better today. It refers to the equality of men and women in relationship, in a marriage and family, but in the social life too.

Buuut…

We talk about sexism, a term that has no place in the post modern dictionary, but it is a still here. Sexism basically means form of social discrimination and segregation of one person because of the sex. And unfortunately, the major numbers of victims of sexism are women (there are men also, but it should not comfort us).

When we talk about sexism regarding the woman, we usually mean about beliefs and activities based on the fact that men are privileged on the basis of their gender, and it gives all rights for dominance. Unfortunately (in the part of world where I live) and in a lot other parts of the world, sexism is build in way of thinking and build in the actual languages. Dominance over women is still “natural” and “normal” so long in the way of living that even women support they discrimination, without being aware of it. We can see this in relationships, in a marriages and families, in laws, religious treatment, and in all society. (Of course, there a lot of exceptions, but someone said that even if one woman is discriminated, we still have to talk and find a way to be equal, and women rights are not old theme.)

After researching on this topic we can conclude that there are different ways of sexism, as negative or hostile and positive or benevolent and friendly. The first one the negative is manifesting through the negative stereotypes, ugly worlds and the right to be criticized and evaluated just because of the sex… Maybe this one is not so dangerous, because the hostility is open, you know that although if you are perfect, men always have right to judge you and devolve you because you are … women.

The second one that scares us more, is friendly one, when women a marked by positive words and characteristics, as gentile or weak, they usually need helps, they need be protected (from other men, I guess).

In this way, sometimes with the most sincere intentions can help to restore the woman “where she belongs” because here we have a typical separation between someone who can and someone who cannot, or weak and strong.

So, the two forms have the same base, w omen are weaker, coming from traditional roles cultivated through the centuries, serve as justification for maintenance patriarchal forms of social order.

The last form, and more interesting for us, is the modern sexism or neosexism. This sexism is most invisible and come from the people who believe in and propagate equality, but they still can surprise us, in negative way, because they think that there is no discrimination, that equality of women is sold problem, which became of the fear that women can be superior sex. This is typical and sure way to impose discrimination to be socially accepted by men, but unfortunately also by women.

In our next post we will write about sexism in different levels, as individual, collective or social which depends on the expectations of the society and environment, as well as by institutions and media. Stay with us…