The Invisibility of Modern Sexism (final polished draft)

Dear "liberal" male,

In this letter I will attempt to propose a theory that comes mainly from my own experience as a woman in modern society, in a town that I believe falsely claims a "liberal" and "progressive" point of view. My theory is that, for reasons that I will explain further in this letter, sexism is the most "invisible" of the main three "isms" that are being discussed more and more often among those of us that are concerned with civil rights. The main reason that I believe that sexism goes unnoticed in relation to that of racism or homophobia is simple, but difficult to prove: intuitively, we can surmise that sexism may be the oldest form of biologically based oppression. What I mean to say by "biologically based oppression" is that it is oppression that is based upon aspects of a person that either cannot be changed or cannot be changed easily.

Throughout most cultures women have been viewed as the weaker sex. Indeed, women generally have less physical strength than that of the average male. In a time before technological advances were made, physical strength was certainly important, to fight off animals as well as human predators. However, it seems bizarre to me that this "weaker sex" point of view has prevailed, even after humans moved indoors, invented high powered weapons, and began to use physical violence less and less frequently to "solve" each conflict that arose.

The main aspect of subtle or indirect sexism that I've noticed is displayed often in commercials, and frequently in a way that is demeaning to men as well, albeit to a lesser extent that perhaps makes it less inherently damaging. For example, most commercials that involve any type of cleaning solution or domestic work of any kind feature a woman and are therefore presumed to be aimed at female consumers. In these commercials men are portrayed as lazy, filthy, and immature due to their alleged inability to take care of themselves. I feel that this recurrent theme in commercials and in popular media is especially damaging to children of both genders (and those genders that lie in between male and female). It shows them that no matter which parent is working (if it is even only one parent; this is becoming less and less commonplace) mom cleans up, while dad relaxes. In a world where more people need house mates and at later points in life, I believe that this early exposure to traditional gender roles can cause strife and discord. In Santa Cruz especially, the cost of rent is high. Therefore, the average college student has had a lot of housemates. Renters are often replaced due to conflict. How is this relevant? The answer is that the problem usually has to do with someone refusing to clean up after themselves, and the culprit is usually male. Years of watching his mother and mothers on television pick up after sons and fathers may indeed have a long lasting impact.

In addition to the frequent incidence of blatant sexism in popular media, I have noticed hypocritical behavior in regards to sexism from people that would believe themselves to be progressive. Many people know that racism and homophobia is wrong (or at least, that the open expression of such sentiments is undesirable) yet negative attitudes towards women continue to be a favorite subject for the casual "comedian". I have often witnessed people that become incensed over hearing a racist joke turn around and make a sexist one in the span of a few hours. Similar phenomena has been studied by Margo Monteith, who explains that her "research points to lax norms in the case of sexist responses, with people caring little if they have engaged in sexist slip ups" ("Psychology Headlines"). The aim of her study was to find out how people would react when confronted with their own prejudices. The result was that for whatever reason (finding out that people generally had less compunction regarding sexism was not the aim of this particular study) participants reported no feelings of guilt when confronted with their prejudice towards women when compared with their reactions to their attitudes regarding race.

There are many people like you who would have us believe that sexism is no longer a major issue. To be blunt, these people are usually male and therefore have little to no experience with the kind of sexism that women often experience. According to an article in AIDS Education & Prevention "[in our sample] more than two thirds reported having ever experienced unfair treatment as a woman"(402). This study made claims that would support a correlation between sexist attitudes and a lack of proper treatment of women living with or otherwise effected by AIDS, as well as claims regarding sexism in general. Clearly this is an indicator of a problem that is still relevant to modern society, as this survey was conducted in 2011. I implore you to do your own research regarding sexist attitudes towards more than half of the population, as well as to simply be more observant of your behavior and the behavior of those around you. It is obviously a bizarre state of affairs when a group that is in no way a minority is treated as if they are one. It is wise to assume that even if you are not female, that the equal treatment of women will only serve you, since it would reduce the incidence of anger in these women, making it easier to improve your relationship with them. 

Sincerely,
Rachel Meisenheimer  

Works Cited:

Bowleg, Lisa, and Torsten B. Neilands. "The Effects of Sexism, Psychological Distress,
            and Difficult Sexual Situations on U.S. Women’s Sexual Risk Behaviors." AIDS 
            Education and Prevention. By Kyung-Hee Choi. 23rd ed. Vol. 5. N.p.: Guilford,
            2011. 397-411. EBSCOhost EBook Collection. Web. 24 May 2013.

 Monteith, Margo. "Psychology Headlines." Social Psychology Network. Scott Plous, 21
           Mar. 2001. Web. 03 June 2013.