What is sexism?

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the definition and classification of sexism. Stressed that the word «sexism» became widely known during the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s. At that time, feminist theorists explained that the oppression of women was widespread in nearly all human society, and they began to speak of sexism instead of male chauvinism. Whereas male chauvinists were usually individual men who expressed the belief that they were superior to women, sexism referred to collective behavior that reflected society as a whole. Highlighted that today sexism means discrimination based on sex or gender, or the belief that because men are superior to women, discrimination is justified.The article emphasizes that sexism includes attitudes or ideology, including beliefs, theories, and ideas that hold one group (usually male) as deservedly superior to the other (usually female), and that justify oppressing members of the other group on the basis of their sex or gender. Besides, sexism involves practices and institutions and the ways in which oppression is carried out.
 Summarized that several different types of sexism exist, and each of them can have harmful consequences. The six main types of sexism include: benevolent sexism and hostile sexism (benevolent sexism usually stems from a desire to protect women due to a belief that women are inherently weaker, more sensitive, or more innocent than men. Whereas hostile sexism punishes women for violating traditional gender norms, benevolent sexism encourages those traditional roles); аmbivalent sexism (this type of sexism combines both hostile and benevolent forms. It fuses the seemingly contradictory beliefs that women are both fragile and pure as well as manipulative and conniving); іnterpersonal sexism (this type of sexism occurs in everyday interactions with partners); іnternalized sexism (self-adoption of sexism); institutional sexism (this type of sexism occurs when institutions like the media, healthcare, law enforcement, education, religion, and banking reinforce sexist ideology).
 Sexism can come from a wide range of sources: beliefs about traditional gender roles inherited from caregivers and educators; laws that promote different treatment of men and women; sexist imagery and language in pop culture and the media; lack of policies for responding to or penalizing sexism in the workplace, schools, and other sectors.