Sexism (n.) : discrimination against men

Sexism in language is an offensive reminder of the way culture sees people.

Sexism is the practice of discriminating on the basis of sex. By highlighting sexism, we alleviate discrimination. Alleviating discrimination for only one sex would be — by definition — sexist.

Right?

So let’s have a look at how a number of popular dictionaries define and illustrate sexism.

Oxford dictionary (also Apple dictionary):

sexism (noun): Prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. ‘sexism in language is an offensive reminder of the way the culture sees women’.

Cambridge Dictionary:

sexism (noun) (actions based on) the belief that the members of one sex are less intelligent, able, skilful, etc. than the members of the other sex, especially that women are less able than men: The university has been accused of sexism because it has so few women professors.

American heritage dictionary of the English language:

sex·ism n.(1) Discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women. (2) The belief that one gender is superior to the other, especially that men are superior to women.

Merriam-Webster:

sexism noun sex·ism \ˈsek-ˌsi-zəm\ : (1) prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially : discrimination against women (2) behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex

Four major dictionaries employ a definition of sexism which, by their own definition, is sexist.

This troubling treatment of sexism is not confined to the major dictionaries. The Everyday Sexism Project, for example, is a popular feminist advocacy website founded by British feminist writer Laura Bates, who describes its purpose as being:

… to take a step towards gender equality, by proving wrong those who tell women that they can’t complain because we are equal. To show that sexism exists in abundance in the UK workplace and that it is very far from being a problem we no longer need to discuss … If you have experienced sexism, just everyday, small, so-used-to-it-you-almost-just-accept-it sexism, please share your story so we can prove how widespread the problem really is.

To maintain feminism’s claim that women are not equal, Laura must manufacture the apperance that only men are sexist to women. So The Everyday Sexism Project excludes reports of sexism towards men, and reports only sexism towards women. The Everyday Sexism Project isn’t a champion of everyday sexism. It’s an example of it.

Sexism towards men is harmful and widespread, across a broad range of legal, social, and economic issues; from infanthood through school, college, work, and retirement; in healthcare, divorce, family law, and criminal law; and as victims of suicide, violent crime, and state violence.

So if sexism harms men and women, why do we define sexism as harm done by men to women? Why do we present “so-used-to-it-you-almost-just-accept-it” sexism as “a problem that needs to be discussed”. Indeed, why do feminist politicians, laughing in committee about male suicide, prostate cancer, and death by violent crime, express a worldview that is so sexist that it is incompatible with what it means to be a compassionate human being?

For three reasons.

Firstly, discussion of gender issues in society, workplaces, and campuses is so dominated by feminism that most people are simply not aware that men also experience serious sexist discrimination. Discussing sexism towards men in gynocentric societies is like discussing water with a fish.

Secondly, even where awareness exists, we simply don’t care. Just as we subliminally accept a sexist definition of sexism, we subliminally accept that men are disposable, and therefore ignorable. Boko Haram secured worldwide attention via Michelle Obama by kidnapping school girls. The previous tactic of releasing women and girls and shooting, burning alive, and cutting the throats of male infants and school boys (described as ‘children’ in news reports), and men simply failed to attract enough attention.

But sexism’s failure of empathy for fellow human beings which, in an individual, would be treated as a psychopathic mental illness, demands further explanation. One explanation is feminism’s problematic patriarchy hypothesis¹.

Feminism needs a patriarchy to justify its program of gynocentric social, economic, and legal reform. In a patriarchy, only sexism toward women should be visible. Yet sexism toward men is also visible, falsifying the hypothesis. So feminism must compel society to treat patriarchy as so self-evident as to require no justification.

That is why dictionaries define sexism in sexist terms, and why feminist writers lobotomise the reporting of sexism. To do otherwise is to concede the patriarchy and, with it, the core of feminist ideology.

So. How should we respond to feminism’s sexism?

Firstly, with compassion. Sexism hurts men and women. Compassion neutralises ignorance, opens minds and hearts, and allows healing to do its work.

Secondly, with inclusiveness. As the repulsiveness of gender feminism increases, the number of women identifying as feminists is falling. Inclusiveness allows feminism to hollow itself out, while providing a humane alternative which focusses instead on healing divisions and building equality between men and women.

Ultimately, with awareness. Not the alienating awareness of angry bitterness, or the stultifying awareness of lobotomised half truth. Rather, with the mindful awareness of our own sexism toward others, and their sexism toward us.

With compassion, inclusiveness, and awareness, men and women have the courage to stand up to sexism and for the discriminated as partners rather than as antagonists, and the resolve to move closer together.

sexism (noun): Prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, on the basis of sex. ‘sexism in language is an offensive reminder of the way the culture sees people’.

There. That wasn’t so hard.

¹ In feminist ideology, the patriarchy hypothesis is a set of dependent claims that (1) men as a class dominate women as a class to (2) enforce gender roles which (3) establishes a social system which (4) oppresses women. A notable feature of the hypothesis is its treatment of falsifying evidence which, being interpreted the oppressive product of the hypothesised patriarchy, is regarded as in fact confirming the hypothesis.