Editing Sexism (section)

== Etymology and definitions ==

According to legal scholar [[Fred R. Shapiro]], the term "sexism" was most likely coined on November 18, 1965, by Pauline M. Leet during a "Student-Faculty Forum" at [[Franklin and Marshall College]]. Specifically, the word sexism appears in Leet's forum contribution "Women and the Undergraduate", and she defines it by comparing it to racism, stating in part, "When you argue&nbsp;... that since fewer women write good poetry this justifies their total exclusion, you are taking a position analogous to that of the racist—I might call you, in this case, a 'sexist'&nbsp;... Both the racist and the sexist are acting as if all that has happened had never happened, and both of them are making decisions and coming to conclusions about someone's value by referring to factors which are in both cases irrelevant."<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Shapiro |first=Fred R. |date=1985 |title=Historical Notes on the Vocabulary of the Women's Movement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/454643 |journal=American Speech |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=3–16 |doi=10.2307/454643 |jstor=454643 |issn=0003-1283}}</ref>

According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', the first time the term ''sexism'' appeared in print was in [[Caroline Bird (American author)|Caroline Bird]]’s speech "On Being Born Female", which was delivered before the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] Executive Council in [[Greenwich, Connecticut]], and subsequently published on November 15, 1968, in ''Vital Speeches of the Day'' (p.&nbsp;6).<ref>{{cite book|title=Oxford English Dictionary Vol. 15|date=1989|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford, UK|page=112|edition=2nd|chapter=Sexism}}</ref>

Sexism may be defined as an [[ideology]] based on the belief that one sex is superior to another.<ref name="Schaefer 2011">{{Cite book |title=Sociology in Modules |last=Schaefer |first=Richard T. |date=2011 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-07-802677-5 |location=New York |page=315 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/sociologyinmodul0000scha_m7y8/page/315/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter=Women: The Oppressed Majority}}</ref><ref name="Macionis 2010">{{Cite book |title=Sociology |last=Macionis |first=John J. |date=2010 |publisher=Pearson Education |isbn=978-0-205-74989-8 |edition=13th |location=Upper Saddle River, N.J. |page=330 |oclc=468109511}}</ref><ref name="Schaefer 2009">{{Cite book |title=Sociology: A Brief Introduction |last=Schaefer |first=Richard T. |date=2009 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-07-340426-4 |edition=8th |location=New York |pages=274–275 |oclc=243941681}}</ref> It is discrimination, prejudice, or stereotyping based on gender, and is most often expressed toward women and girls.<ref name="Discrimination Against Women">Sources:
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Stevenson |editor1-first=Angus |editor2-last=Lindberg |editor2-first=Christine A. |title=New Oxford American Dictionary |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-989153-5 |pages=}} Defines sexism as "prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex".{{page needed|date=February 2024}}
* {{cite book |last1=Cudd |first1=Ann E. |author1-link=Ann E. Cudd |last2=Jones |first2=Leslie E. |chapter=Sexism |editor1-last=Frey |editor1-first=R. G. |editor2-last=Wellman |editor2-first=Christopher Heath |title=A Companion to Applied Ethics |series=Blackwell Companions to Philosophy |date=2008 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-7190-8 |page=104 |quote={{nowrap|[I]n}} the more accurate and more specific sense{{nbsp}}[...] 'sexism' refers to a historically and globally pervasive form of oppression against women.}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Masequesmay |first=Gina |editor-last=O'Brien |editor-first=Jodi |title=Sexism |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Gender and Society, Volume 2 |year=2008 |publisher=SAGE Publications |location=Thousand Oaks, Calif. |isbn=978-1-4522-6602-2 |pages=748–751 |quote=''Sexism'' usually refers to prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender, especially against women and girls.{{nbsp}}[...] Sexism is an ideology or practices that maintain patriarchy or male domination.}} Also see: {{block indent|em=2|text={{Cite encyclopedia |last=Masequesmay |first=Gina |date=5 Jan 2024 |title=Sexism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/sexism |access-date=19 Feb 2024 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}} }}
* {{cite book |last=Hornsby |first=Jennifer |author1-link=Jennifer Hornsby |editor-last=Honderich |editor-first=Ted |chapter=Sexism |title=The Oxford Companion to Philosophy |date=2005 |edition=2nd |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-103747-4 |pages=}} Defines sexism as "thought or practice which may permeate language and which assumes women's inferiority to men".{{page needed|date=February 2024}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Jary |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Jary |editor2-first=Julia |title=Collins Dictionary of Sociology |date=2005 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |location=Glasgow |isbn=978-0-00-718399-9 |page=551 |edition=4th |url=https://archive.org/details/collinsdictionar0000unse_t6p4/page/551/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}} Defines ''sexism'' as discrimination against either men or women on the grounds of sex, and also "any devaluation or denigration of women or men, but particularly women, which is embodied in institutions and social relationships".
* {{cite book |last1=Scruton |first1=Roger |author1-link=Roger Scruton |title=The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought |date=2007 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |edition=3rd |location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hants. |isbn=978-0-230-62509-9 |page=631 |quote=Either sex may be the object of sexist attitudes{{nbsp}}[...] however, it is commonly held that, in developed societies, women have been the usual victims.}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |editor=Sears, James T. |editor-link=James T. Sears |title=Sexism |encyclopedia=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Love, Courtship, and Sexuality through History, Volume 6: The Modern World |year=2007 |pages= |isbn=978-0-3133-3646-1 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Conn. |quote=Sexism is any act, attitude, or institutional configuration that systematically subordinates or devalues women. Built upon the belief that men and women are constitutionally different, sexism takes these differences as indications that men are inherently superior to women, which then is used to justify the nearly universal dominance of men in social and familial relationships, as well as politics, religion, language, law, and economics.}}{{page needed|date=February 2024}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Foster |first=Carly Hayden |editor-last=Kurian |editor-first=George Thomas |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Political Science |title=Sexism |year=2011 |publisher=CQ Press |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-1-9331-1644-0 |pages= |quote={{nowrap|[B]oth}} men and women can experience sexism, but sexism against women is more pervasive{{nbsp}}[...]}}{{page needed|date=February 2024}}
* {{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Allan G. |author1-link=Allan G. Johnson |title=The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology: A User's Guide to Sociological Language |date=2000 |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-631-21681-0 |edition=2nd |pages= |quote={{nowrap|[T]he}} key test of whether something is sexist{{nbsp}}[...] lies in its consequences: if it supports male privilege, then it is by definition sexist. I specify 'male privilege' because in every known society where gender inequality exists, males are privileged over females.}}{{page needed|date=February 2024}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lorber |first1=Judith |author1-link=Judith Lorber |title=Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-1953-7522-0 |page=4 |edition=4th |quote=Although we speak of {{em|gender}} inequality, it is usually women who are disadvantaged relative to similarly situated men.}} [Emphasis in original.]
* {{cite book |last1=Wortman |first1=Camille B. |last2=Loftus |first2=Elizabeth F. |last3=Weaver |first3=Charles A. |author1-link=Camille B. Wortman |author2-link=Elizabeth F. Loftus |title=Psychology |date=1999 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=Boston |isbn=978-0-0707-1931-6 |page=601 |edition=5th |url=https://archive.org/details/psychology5edwort/page/601/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=limited |quote=Sexism, or prejudice toward one sex (almost always women), has existed throughout recorded history.}}

</ref>

[[Sociology]] has examined sexism as manifesting at both the individual and the [[Social institution|institutional]] level.<ref name="Schaefer 2009"/> According to Richard Schaefer, sexism is perpetuated by all major [[social institutions]].<ref name="Schaefer 2009"/> Sociologists describe parallels among other ideological systems of oppression such as [[racism]], which also operates at both the individual and institutional level.<ref name="Hughes 2009">{{Cite book |title=Sociology: The Core |last1=Hughes |first1=Michael |date=2009 |publisher=McGraw Hill/Higher Education |last2=Kroehler |first2=Carolyn J. |isbn=978-0-07-340425-7 |edition=9th |location=Boston |page=247 |url=https://archive.org/details/sociologycore0009edhugh/page/247/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref> Early female sociologists [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]], [[Ida B. Wells]], and [[Harriet Martineau]] described systems of [[gender inequality]], but did not use the term ''sexism'', which was coined later. Sociologists who adopted the functionalist paradigm, e.g. [[Talcott Parsons]], understood gender inequality as the natural outcome of a dimorphic model of gender.<ref name="Witt 2017">{{Cite book |title=SOC 2018 |last=Witt |first=Jon |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-259-70272-3 |edition=5th |location=New York |page=301 |oclc=968304061}}</ref>

Psychologists Mary Crawford and [[Rhoda Unger]] define sexism as prejudice held by individuals that encompasses "negative attitudes and values about women as a group."<ref name="Crawford p9">{{Cite book |title=Women and Gender: A Feminist Psychology |last1=Crawford |first1=Mary |date=2004 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |last2=Unger |first2=Rhoda K. |isbn=978-0-07-282107-9 |edition=4th |location=Boston |page=9 |url=https://archive.org/details/womengenderfemin0000craw/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref> [[Peter Glick (psychologist)|Peter Glick]] and [[Susan Fiske]] coined the term ''[[ambivalent sexism]]'' to describe how stereotypes about women can be both positive and negative, and that individuals compartmentalize the stereotypes they hold into hostile sexism or benevolent sexism.{{sfnp|Crawford|Unger|2004|pp=59–60}}

Feminist author [[bell hooks]] defines sexism as a system of oppression that results in disadvantages for women.<ref name="Hooks 2000">{{cite book |last1=Hooks |first1=Bell |title=Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center |date=2000 |publisher=South End Press |location=Cambridge, Mass. |isbn=978-0-89608-614-2 |page=48 |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/feministtheoryfr0002hook/page/48/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref> Feminist philosopher [[Marilyn Frye]] defines sexism as an "attitudinal-conceptual-cognitive-orientational complex" of [[Androcentrism|male supremacy]], [[male chauvinism]], and misogyny.<ref name="Frye 1983">{{Cite book |title=The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory |last=Frye |first=Marilyn |publisher=Crossing Press |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-89594-099-5 |edition=First |location=Trumansburg, New York |pages=41 |oclc=9323470 |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofrealit00frye/page/41/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Philosopher [[Kate Manne]] defines sexism as one branch of a [[patriarchy|patriarchal order]]. In her definition, sexism rationalizes and justifies patriarchal norms, in contrast with [[misogyny]], the branch which polices and enforces patriarchal norms. Manne says that sexism often attempts to make patriarchal social arrangements seem natural, good, or inevitable so that there appears to be no reason to resist them.<ref name="Manne 2019">{{cite book |last=Manne |first=Kate |author-link=Kate Manne |date=2019 |title=Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=78–79 |isbn=978-0-19-060498-1}}</ref>