Sexism: The Most Important Social Issues In Our Society
There are many social issues that our society faces on a daily basis. Many people do not truly notice or understand these issues, because they are not directly affected by the issue. Just because you aren’t directly affected by an issue does not mean that you should make an attempt to understand the issue from the person affected by it’s point of view. In order to do this, you have to look at the issue critically and with an intersectional lens, “a critical analytic interdisciplinary tool to interrogate racial, ethnic, class, and gender disparities and to contest existing ways of looking at these disparities” (Dill & Zambrana, 2009, page 2). By looking at things intersectionally, we can truly understand the nature of the issue and move closer
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Sexism involves treating someone differently than you treat someone else on the basis of gender. Due to the patriarchal system in our society, “men and masculine bodies dominate because power and authority are in the hands of adult men” (Shaw & Lee, 2015, page 7). Sexism is present in many different forms in many different places in our day to day life. There is benevolent sexism in which women are treated as if they need to constantly be protected and taken care of, and there is hostile sexism in which women are treated as if they are not as good as men. When someone initially thinks of sexism, they are most likely thinking of hostile sexism. Benevolent sexism follows the idea that a woman should never have pay for the check and men always wanting to protect the woman from something. Although some actions may just be the man being polite, the actions may ultimately be sexist. Just like racism, these forms of sexism create stereotypes about women. Sexism is found in the media, as many movies are filmed through the male gaze to “fulfill the voyeuristic desire for men to look at women as objects” (Shaw & Lee, 2015, page 261). This leads to women being objectified, which is a form of sexism. Sexism is also the root of gender violence. Women are expected to be nice and polite often, and men can take advantage of this through sexual harassment or
Sexism involves treating someone differently than you treat someone else on the basis of gender. Due to the patriarchal system in our society, “men and masculine bodies dominate because power and authority are in the hands of adult men” (Shaw & Lee, 2015, page 7). Sexism is present in many different forms in many different places in our day to day life. There is benevolent sexism in which women are treated as if they need to constantly be protected and taken care of, and there is hostile sexism in which women are treated as if they are not as good as men. When someone initially thinks of sexism, they are most likely thinking of hostile sexism. Benevolent sexism follows the idea that a woman should never have pay for the check and men always wanting to protect the woman from something. Although some actions may just be the man being polite, the actions may ultimately be sexist. Just like racism, these forms of sexism create stereotypes about women. Sexism is found in the media, as many movies are filmed through the male gaze to “fulfill the voyeuristic desire for men to look at women as objects” (Shaw & Lee, 2015, page 261). This leads to women being objectified, which is a form of sexism. Sexism is also the root of gender violence. Women are expected to be nice and polite often, and men can take advantage of this through sexual harassment or