Is Sexism Still Alive Today?

Is Sexism Still Alive Today?

A question answered from different perspectives by many is whether or not sexism is still alive today. According to a survey from the Pew Research Center, reported on by The Washington Post, 56% of the U.S.’s male population believe that sexism is no longer a current issue. Nearly all women, whether they openly notice it or not, experience normalized sexism on a daily basis. 

Sexism In The Workforce

An easily proven sex based bias is in the workforce. According to forbes.com women, on average, earn 16% less than men in the United States. The University of the People depicts examples of sexism in the workforce, like the following. 

There are two distinct forms of sexism present in the workforce: hostile and benevolent. Hostile sexism displays women as inferior to men in workplaces, where they are assumed to be emotional, manipulative, and incompetent. This can be seen when women are assigned the “work of a woman”. An example the University of the People provides, is a woman expected to simply take notes at a meeting although all participants hold the same job title. 

Another form of sexism in workplaces is benevolent sexism which may not be as visible to the typical observer. This displays the standard stereotype that women are to be taken care of and men are their providers. Women may not be alerted of certain events at the workplace under the assumption they would rather be at home caring for their family. 

When observing sexism in the workforce one of the most successful yet controversial music artists said it best, Taylor Swift, when explaining sexism in the music industry. “There’s a different vocabulary for men and women in the music industry. A man does something, it’s strategic, a woman does the same thing, it’s calculated. A man is allowed to react, a woman can only overreact.”  

Sexism In SA and Rape and How It Affects Women

Women, in their daily lives are seen as objects by men who feel that they, by default, have the high ground. When discussing rape and sexual assault, 91% of victims are woman and 99% of perpetuators are male along with the statistic that 1 in 6 female U.S. citizens have been a victim of completed or attempted rape. An even greater saddening fact is that out of all sexual assault and rape cases where a woman is the victim there is only a 50% chance of arrest, this can be due to victim blaming or fail to believe the victim. Because of these horrifying statistics, many women do not speak up for fear of not being believed. Factoring in these unreported cases, only 6% of rapists spend even a day in jail. 

Many women who live hiding from their assaults, are faced with the following questions after speaking up, “Why didn’t you scream?” “Why didn’t you run?” “What were you wearing?” “Why didn’t you report it?” “You were asking for it.” “You led them on. It was your fault.” No one has reported any men claiming they were asked any of these questions upon reporting sexual assault. 

Many people live in fear of not being believed. Several speeches have been delievered stating that they would have no clue what turn their life would have taken if the had not been believed, for 33% of sexual assault and rape victims, that meant extreme thoughts of suicide and for 31% that meant serious PTSD. 

Abortion Rights

Women today face many strong legal results of sexism, one of which being abortion rights which takes away many of women’s inalienable rights. 16 U.S. states have banned abortion and 7 U.S. states have banned abortion 6-18 weeks into pregnancy. Abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest is a Class A felony with a sentence of up to 99 years and even attempted abortion can cause you to find yourself facing a sentence of 1 to 10 years.

Like stated previously, there are no exceptions for rape or incest when arresting someone for abortion. As we compare punishments for abortion to rape, the sentence for a male rapist if convincted, even one causing an unwanted pregnancy, is an average of 16 years with a minimum of 3 years along with a maximum fine of $10,000. 

Normalized Sexism

Due to the long duration of time that sexism has been present for many forms of sexism have been normalized. Therefore, many women can even be unaware that they are facing sexism. An example of a typical sexist phrase that has been easily written into our daily lives are quotes such as “boys will be boys”, excusing men from awful behavior typically because they’re men and it’s “in their nature”.

How many times have you seen examples of, or heard, a man being catcalled by a complete stranger? I’m guessing that the common answer for most is never. Men are seen as people. Women are seen as objects that men can claim and label.

The phrase “__ like a man” is used often to describe toughness or intelligence while the same sentence, “__ like a girl” is used to discourage and insult the reciever. As the media becomes a larger and larger part of our lives I’ve seen femenism become “embarassing” or something that has “gone too far”. A depressing label to describe something supporting the constitutional and moral rights of women.

In your everyday life you likely at some point ride or drive in a car and attend school, two things where sexism is visible.

Studies have shown that a woman is 73% more likely to suffer an injury from a car accident than a man. This is due to the fact that starting in 1960, cars were tested using dummies that replicated the physiques of a man rather than a woman. 

Moving on to school systems, sexism is seen in many ways coming from teachers and students. It is no suprise that in schools, cruel jokes and comments are made. Along with studies finding that males recieve 7% more teacher attention than females, I often find teachers having higher expectations of girls. A guy makes a highly offensive joke, the teacher often says “That was rude, don’t say that again” or it goes unheard, a girl talks to much, she’s wasting the educators time, she’s disrupting the class, she’s being disrespectful. I think the fact that I’ve never heard a girl make a sexist, racist, or offensive joke that I could compare that of boys to, is derived from the punishment they recieve from simple things that often don’t affect boys.

The horrifyingly disgusting statistics from psychologytoday.com, proved that 10% of students will have experienced “educator sexual misconduct”, 89.1% of perpetuators being male. 72% of reported victims were female. 

We see normalized sexism trickle into the music industry in many ways such as this one. Written by another female songwriter, Maisie Peters, in her song History of Man she wrote, “I’ve pleaded, with the powers and their plans. I tried to rewrite it but I can’t. It’s the history, the history of man.” Suggesting that no matter the changes we make, the lies we defend, and the progression of human nature, sexism will never die.

So, Is Sexism Still Alive Today?

Returning back to the original question of if sexism is still alive today, the blunt and obvious answer is yes. I believe that sexism will forever remain and in many forms, no matter what we tell ourselves. I’ve seen it displayed in classrooms, sports, and in my home. I’ve seen my brother and many others raised on it. We can change our laws, and beliefs, and vocabulary, but none of that will truly eliminate the issue of sexism as it is passed down. We can never run from it as it has already swallowed our society.

Sexism, racism, homophobia; these are monsters that we cannot fight. Their evil judgements are crudely engraved into the minds of the human race. The story of sexism will receive no happy ending to this issue. Sexism will forever remain, wether we wish it to, or notice it to, in our beliefs and our vocabulary as it will forever be “the history of man”.