The Different Forms of Sexism in the United States

Sexism is an issue that has been present since the beginning of time, and is not even close to being solved. As a girl, this issue has a more profound effect on me and even though I live in the United States, I feel like I am still not equal to a man in many ways. As a young girl I never realized this was out there, although I do remember hearing taunts like “you throw like a girl” being used as a bad thing.

Even though women are usually physically weaker than a man doesn’t mean that they are less of a person. When a comment like that is used, it is disrespectful of women. Now that I am in college, I have become aware of the many inequalities women face today. Even though many things have been done to help women, there are still issues that we need to deal with. The issues that are prevalent today include rape and violence against women, sexism in language, and the income gap between men and women.

First of all, rape is a form of sexism because it signifies that a man has complete power over a woman and that she doesn’t have a choice in the matter. Rape can involve any man; a friend, stranger, relative, authority figure, or boyfriend. Today, 1.9 million American women are physically assaulted in a year, and 65,000 women are raped every year. Also, three women are raped every 2 minutes and 2/3 of physical assaults are committed by someone she loves. Unfortunately, rapes are rarely reported because they are afraid of retribution, rejection, afraid she won’t be believed, and afraid of a loss of privacy. This is another form of sexism because the court doesn’t protect a woman like it should. Also, women are subject to victim blame because men say that they “dressed too provocatively”, therefore it is their fault. When they say something like that they aren’t getting to the root of the problem, which is sexism.

Another form of sexism is the foul language used against women. For example, some words I have heard include condescending language such as “don’t worry your pretty little head about it”, animal terms such as bitch, shrew, old bat, bird, lamb, or crone, and other derogatory terms such as slut, whore, or skank. Sometimes words like “honey” or “sweetcakes” are used in a positive way but are still sexist because they are equating women to non-human objects, therefore having less value than a human being. I think that people should be more careful when using these terms. Another problem with words is that “man” or “men” is used at the end of many terms as a broad category for both men and women. It even suggests that those jobs are only for men, such as a “newsman”, “policeman”, or even words like “penmanship” or the phrase “a man-sized job”. In reality, there are very few jobs, if any, that only men can do. I think that we should use words that include both men and women, such as “mail carrier” instead of “postman”.

Finally, a big issue today is the income gap between men and women. Some misconceptions today include that we have a lot of progress in closing the income gap. In fact, there is hardly any movement. Today, full-time working women earn 72% as much as full-time working men, on average. Also, people think that college educated women have a way better salary. The reality is that many men who have only graduated high school earn just as much as college graduate women do, perhaps even more. In fact, women in legal practice earn an average $20,000 a year less than men. Just because they are educated and have a good job doesn’t mean that they earn more money. This is unfair, and yet not much is being done to combat this.

In order to solve the problem of sexism, we need to look at the past. Since ancient times women have been subject to cruelty because they needed to somehow pay penance to the fact that they weren’t as good as men. For example, in China little girls had to “forcibly have their soft, white feet bound so that even in their sleep they could not find comfort and relief until the flesh became rotten and the bones broken”. (Andrea & Overfield, p. 340) Men said that small feet were attractive so women started to bind their daughter’s feet. Also, when girls were forced to marry a man they had never met, they were to thank their stars if the man did not beat her. If he did and she complained, she is told that her marriage was “some sin committed in her previous existence” and people said “that woman is bad; she doesn’t know how to behave like a wife”. This was a huge example of victim blame. Even though we have come a long way from these times, it brings up the issue of what women are doing to solve this problem. In the ancient times of foot binding women went along with what men said because they were the ones who brought home the money, and they didn’t dare risk losing the comforts of home. I feel like women today rely more on themselves than they ever have, and yet there are still a lot of problems. In order for rape to end, the income gap to be closed, and all the other sexist attitudes to stop, women need to be educating people about this and trying to bring this out in the public so that issues can be solved. I didn’t realize that there was such a horrible income gap until I was in the middle of high school. It seems like this issue has been swept under the rug for far too long and needs to be looked at. Clearly, sexism is harmful and promotes violence as well as a host of other problems.

Bibliography

1. “Understanding Human Differences: A Study of Human Relations”. Note Taking Guide for Lectures, 2008-2009. University of Wisconsin: La Crosse.
2. Rachel Smolkin. “Equality at Work Remains Elusive”. Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: Sixth Edition. Worth Publishers, 1998.
3. Qiu Jin, “An Address to Two Hundred Million Fellow Countrywomen,” in The Human Record: Sources of a Global History, eds. Andrea, Alfred and James Overfield, v.2, 6th ed. (New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2009) 339-340.

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