Sexism

Sexism is commonly considered to be discrimination against people based on their sex rather than their individual merits, but can also refer to any and all differentiations based on sex.

Related Topics:
Discrimination - Sex

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Sexism can refer to three subtly different beliefs or attitudes:

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• The belief that one sex is superior to the other.
• The belief that men and women are very different and that this should be strongly reflected in society, language, the right to have sex, and the law.
• It can also refer to simple hatred of women (misogyny) or less commonly, hatred of men (misandry).

Many peoples' beliefs range along a continuum. Some people believe that women should have equal access to all jobs except a few religious positions. Others believe that while women are superior to men in a few aspects, in most aspects men are superior to women.

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Sexist beliefs are a species of essentialism, which holds that individuals can be understood (and often judged) based on the characteristics of the group to which they belong—in this case, their sex group (male or female). This assumes that all individuals clearly fit into the category of "male" or "female."

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Sexism against women is often called chauvinism, though chauvinism is actually a wider term for any extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group.

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While the view that women are superior to men is also sexism, only in recent years has an awareness of this "reverse sexism" begun to develop in public discourse.

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Certain forms of sexual discrimination are illegal in many countries, but nearly all countries have laws that give special rights, privileges, or responsibilities to one sex.

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Sexism: Language ►