Reverse Sexism Rears its Ugly Head
Sexism is bad, even when it's against men.
John Ferreira
Issue date: 3/11/05 Section: Opinions
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Today women have reached at least nominal equality in our society even though there is still much work to make sure that it turns into reality. Sexism is wrong in any way, shape, or form. How come nothing is said about the equally wrong reverse sexism, prejudice against men? It does exist, and it is rearing its ugly head all over the place.
Men's studies researcher Eugene August points out in his essay "Real Men Don't: Anti-Male Bias in English" that reverse sexist ideals pervade our society. In advertising and in common usage, we avoid treating men as parents. Society views children as being raised by and belonging to women. August gives evidence for this by showing how custody of children is awarded to women in 90% of divorce cases, and by describing television ads that most often portray mothers as the parent.
During a war, women and children are viewed as innocent victims, men are not. Even when a man is hurt or killed in a war (when he was not an active participant), he is still not viewed as a victim. The inocent men killed in political conflict can't be victims simply because of gender. The common phrase "innocent women and children" is typical of this viewpoint.
The English language also tends to portray the man as the evil, ill, and cruel force in society. Words like murderer, swindler, gangster, mugger, terrorist and rapist all have a masculine connotation. Satan and his minions are always described with the pronoun "he," even though the gender of "God" as a man is under debate as being sexist, the gender of Satan is not. Men are often perceived as being guiltier of child abuse, but studies on child abuse show that women are more likely to abuse children emotionally and physically, while Men are more likely to abuse children sexually.
Sexism also exists in childhood. It is not acceptable for a boy to cry. If a mother dresses a boy in a skirt, it is an outrage, but if a mother dresses a girl in pants, a baseball cap and tennis shoes it is ok. It is ok for a girl to hit a boy, but not ok for a boy to hit a girl. When a woman hits a man it still hurts emotionally.
On any college campus is easy to see sexism at work. College women are viewed as organized, clean, motivated, and responsible. While college men are viewed as being dirty, sex-driven, party-animals, who never go to class. Men are expected to be friends with men, and women are expected to be friends with women. You often hear "oh he's just a boy" or "don't be such a girl."
True equality will only be reached when we break down all boundaries of prejudice. We must start looking to respect people for who they are, discounting someone because of their gender is just as bad as discounting someone because of race or income.