Sexism 2

Bibliography:
Berkowitz, Bob, What Men Won't Tell You But Women Need to Know,
New York: William Morrow and Company, 1990
Carison, Dale Bick, Boys have feelings to: growing up male for
boys, New York: Htheneum, 1980
Farrell, Warren, Why Men are the way they are: the Male-Female
dynamic, New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 1986
French, Marilyn, The War Against Women, New York: Summit Books,
1992
Friedman, Sonya, Men are just desserts, New York: Warner Books,
1983
Halas, Cella, I've Done So Well--Why do I feel So Bad?, New York:
Macmillan, 1978
Lerner, Gerda, The Creation of Patriarchy, New York: Oxford
University Press, 1986
Steinmetz, Suzanne, Victimology, vol. 2, 1977-1978, Numbers 3-4,
Unknown Author, The Bible, Genesis 2,3, New York: American Bible
Society, 1976
Interviews:
1) Edie Lanzano 2) Emilia LoSciuto 3) Mary Fabio



Brian S. Slevin
Sexism-Patriarchy
Sexism by definition is discrimination by members of one sex
against the other, especially by men against women, based on the
assumption that one sex is superior. It regards women as
inherently inferior intellectually, psychologically, and
physically to man. This view, is shared by both men and women,
and has historically shaped institutions of world society. It
has been continued through the cultural modification of groups of
people through prolonged and continuous interaction involving
intercultural exchange of generations of children with resulting
differences between the sexes.
On-job sexual discrimination such as low-level work
experience caused by traditional sexist viewpoints has hindered
allot of female job promotion. Women with the same
qualifications as a man that applied for a job would be turned
down based on the simple fact that they are a woman. Prior to
the Women's movement women were constantly discriminated against
in this manner. Sexual discrimination still exists but its
occurrence has drastically reduced, subtle discrimination is
however, still quite prevalent in our society. Salary is one
aspect of this still present discrimination, a vast majority of
women employed in the work force today receive less of a paycheck
for the same amount of hours worked on the same jobs as men.
This is reinforced by the low number of women who have a high

Brian S. Slevin
paying, high powered job. There are a significantly higher
number of women who have little or no power in decision making
and earn a low salary. The women that do get promoted are often
the subjects of rumor and remarks made in poor taste. Men just
can't stand to see they're egos shattered and so they lash out
against the woman with authority. They demean her position and
make it seem less important or trivial. All of this does hurt
female self-esteem and is just one of the ways sexism hurts
women.
Women are not just harassed verbally but physically.
"As in the movie Flashdance, the male employer comes on to the
female employee. In lawsuits, such "coming on" is considered
sexual harassment; by definition it is considered a misuse of his
power. When she resists and he persists, as in both the movie
and the Harlequin formula, it is an even clearer form of sexual
harassment." In many cases if a woman does not give in to a
man's sexual advances she stands the chance of losing her job!
This was the tendency and in many instances still is the tendency
of many men who have authority over women. Sexism runs rampant
in every facet of our society. It even reached the Presidency a
number of times and the Supreme Court. Two prominent examples

Brian S. Slevin
are Bill Clinton and the accusations made by Jennifer Flowers
and Judge Thomas's alleged sexual remarks to Anita Hill.
Granted these were never a hundred percent proven cases of sexual
harassment but they are sufficient enough to show that sexism
reaches everywhere in our society.
Women in many instances have to be very cautious as to what
they wear to work. If they're employer finds them attractive it
could mean a sexist advance or two. Any woman has to be on her
guard against traditional sexist men. "If femininity got lost in
the pursuit of independence, a woman would lose power (because
real power means having control over one's life), which is having
the option to work and not to lose one's gentler side." Sexist
tendencies don't just abuse women in the work place but also at
home. The traditional sexist view of a head of any household is
the man. When this idea is threatened, it is as if their
masculinity were being stripped away.
Physical violence is sometimes caused by a sexist man who
feels as though he has to reclaim his home. This is the type of
man that feels women should be kept underfoot. There are plenty
of other reasons men batter their wives, but this ranks highly
among them. Contrary to popular beliefs (both of men and women)
the incidents of men who are physically violated in comparison

Brian S. Slevin
with women is relatively equal.
"Comparison of Physical Violence Used by Husbands and Wives
Violence Husbands Wives
Threw Things 3 5
Pushed or shoved 11 8
Hit or slapped 5 5
Kicked or hit with fist 2 3
Hit with something 2 3
Threatened with knife or gun 0.4 0.6
Used knife or gun 0.3 0.1
Used any Violence 12 12
* This study was conducted with 2,143.
Sexist men are influenced by many sources in society, one
very basic source is that of the father. He would often,
inadvertently and sometimes purposely plant the seed of sexism in
an impressionable young mind. The media, which is also sexist
tends to portray a woman at home cooking, cleaning, and taking
care of her children. Now with the accusations of sexism running
rampant in the media they have toned down on female portrayal as
being weak. They now have more opposition then they used to have
from feminist organizations (National Organization for Women) and
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discrimination laws.
Today's sexist man is a careful and disheartened individual.
Long gone are the days when sexist viewpoints can run free in
society. This is allowing women to finally gain momentum in
their overall goal for equality. There is somewhat of a balance
between traditional sexist tendencies and the new sexist man.
This balance is maintained by, subtle differences between the
two. The traditional sexist man believed that being a devious
man was a good plan in life, and that devious women were merely
plotting against them. But the new sexist man might say that
women use power deviously when they marry for money.
Stubbornness and weakness are still looked at as female traits
among many new sexist men. This balance is a complicated one and
traditional sexist beliefs both influence and reinforce new
sexist tendencies.
Some sexist ideology is actually sometimes good for women.
Most sexist men still think women shouldn't work or pay for
things. To a woman with low self-esteem this could be a plus,
because she could stay at home and only have to shop and
basically live life as a maid. The new sexist man may split some
of the money making and spending responsibility, but he is
eventually the one that makes the final decision in where and how
the money will be spent or saved.
Confusion is often the grave result of this uncertain

Brian S. Slevin
balance in decision and responsibility. "A woman often finds she
has difficulty fully sharing responsibility for the income. He
finds, often, he has difficulty fully sharing responsibility for
the child care and housework." For women who are not already
married, simply dating can be a powerful dilemma. Many single
men share a sexist ideology and a great deal of women are finding
that they have to compromise on their aggression and power in
order to find a mate. Almost all sexist beliefs hold pride as
one of the highest traits of a man. A sexist man would find the
idea of having a successful and aggressive wife to be a threat to
their pride. These sexist tendencies in men lead to allot of
disappointment from women.
Advertising is also a reinforcing characteristic for sexism.
Women see a man sitting behind a big desk giving orders and see
women receiving the orders. Almost all forms of advertising done
in the past was sexist. It is still a sexist industry, but now
women can dispute how they are represented in an advertisement.
I interviewed Miss Edie Lanzano of Jackson Hgts. (age 23). When
asked,"How do you feel about the way women are portrayed in
advertising?" She replied,"I think it is very degrading to see a
woman always on the bottom of everything. Also it makes women


Brian S. Slevin
look like mindless idiots and makes men look very smart." To
get a better feel of how women felt about women's portrayal in
advertising I interviewed two other females. The first was Mrs.
Emilia LoSciuto of Woodside (age 45). When asked the same
question she replied,"I feel that they are being exploited,
especially in the way they dress. They seem to be so ignorant
that it makes men look like the greater sex." In my final
interview with Mrs. Mary Fabio of Woodside (age 70) I asked the
same question but also added,"How do you feel about advertising's
past portrayal of women?" She replied,"Some are very bad and
most have hardly any clothe on, they are literally disgusting to
see. In the past they were much better then what you see now.
They were much more dignified and respectable looking."
Speaking as a man who has discussed this issue with other men, I
can honestly say that most men sexist or not do not care how
women are portrayed either way. I have discussed women's
portrayal in advertising because, next to your parents, many
images of how you should act come about from what you see
advertised. These impressions can cause men and women to become
what they are as members in our society.

Brian S. Slevin
In the Christian bible (the old testament) women have
traditionally been thought of as lower or powerless unless they
were "specially" selected by God. Women were given the arduous
task of bearing children freeing men up to go about and attain a
job or a powerful status. Until Mary gave birth to the "Messiah"
a boy, no woman had really exuded any power. Of course without
God's ordaining that Mary give birth to Jesus this would never
have happened. Jesus went around and in all the parables and
stories told in the bible, women would flock to his feet and he
would always protect and help them. Meanwhile men in the stories
would often attain Sainthood and become heroes. To quote the
bible,"God, made man in his own image." In other words if God is
the supreme being then we at least look like him and women were
only created to bear our children. Also when God created Adam
and Eve he took a rib from Adam to make Eve. "Then the Lord God
took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he
breathed lifegiving breath into his nostrils and the man began to
live."
"Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to
cultivate and grow it. Then the Lord God said,"It is not good
for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to
help him. So he took some soil from the ground and formed all

Brian S. Slevin
the animals and all the birds. Then he brought them to the man
to see what he would name them; and that is how they all got
their names. So the man named all the birds and all the animals;
but not one of them was a suitable companion to help him. Then
the Lord God made the man fall into a deep sleep, and while he
was sleeping, he took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the
flesh. He formed a woman out of the rib and brought her to
him."
It is also true that according to the bible "woman" not
"man" was the one that was fooled by the devil and was also the
one that forced the fruit onto the "man." This in and of itself
is a sexist idea and teaching of the bible. But these are only
two stories taught by the Catholic church, there are a great many
more. It is precisely because of these blatant sexist ideas that
some Catholic men and women are the way they are. Sexism is
found everywhere in our society and to discuss everywhere that it
is found would take forever but I feel I have covered the most
important realms of sexism and there effects on men and women.
Sexism however, remains a major influence on both conscious and
unconscious assumptions in American mass culture.

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