The Problem of Sexism Against Men
The term sexism has been used for a long term to mean a tendency of discrimination or stereotyping against women based on their gender, but in my opinion, this definition has left out an important aspect of male sexism. Apparently, in the current world, the male person has found himself in situations where they are discriminated on the basis of their gender and instead, women have found favor while the male person has increasingly faced condemnation and mistreatment from fellow men and women (Cihangir, Barreto & Ellemers, 2014). This paper seeks to uncover the problem of sexism meted on the male person in the society through dividing the contents into three main subsections: men who experience sexism, what are the benefits of this research and my personal experience of male sexism and advise on the topic.
When Men Experience Sexism
An article titled “When Men Experience Sexism” exposes the reality that men actually become victims of sexism (Berlatsky, 2013). For example, after a divorce, men may experience discrimination where the ex-wives seek to drain the financial sourced of the man even when they are capable of taking care of themselves. Unfortunately, such experiences have generated a rift between men activists and female activists instead of uniting them to form a stronger activist body that will fight for equality of the rights between men and women (Drury & Kaiser, 2014). There are numerous atrocities that have seen men discriminated, such as the targeting of men and boys for the purposes of slaughter during the Balkans war (Berlatsky, 2013).
Everyone’s Benefit
Fighting sexism is a worthy course as the prevalence of inequality will be drastically reduced and each person will always have a fair opportunity and equal chance of benefiting from a serene relationship that will be established (Berlatsky, 2013). Men should learn from the experiences of women who have for a long time been fighting sexism and discrimination based on gender. They have therefore, developed mechanism to identify women sexism, the process of ascertaining the claims and have institutions that oversee the solutions against individual cases of discrimination. Men should borrow a leaf from the women’s progress to create institutions that will protect the men against sexism. As stated by Berlatsky (2013) in her article, When Men Experience Sexism, stereotyping and discrimination hurt men the same way sexism hurts women, “Rather, men suffer because of the same gender role stereotypes that hurt and restrict women”.
Personal Experience
While working as an intern in the first year of my study at a nearby consultation company for marketing programs, I was surrounded by mostly women and only a handful men. During meetings, the women dominated the discussions and when a man made up a point, his argument about a particular subject, was brushed aside! However, when a woman raised the same point in her own words, the idea would be applauded and sometimes could be recommended for adoption and consequent implementation in the organization. This was my first experience of male sexism in the corporate world.
Conclusion
Sexism against the plight of men is as hurting as those experienced by women when they are discriminated on the basis of gender. Therefore, sexism needs to be abolished because it brings unhappiness and self-reproof among the victims, which further affects their productivity in the workplace. The sentiments shared by Berlatsky (2013) is the beginning of the awareness process to discourage against the habits of sexism. More efforts should be put to fully eradicate the problems of sexism in the modern world, through a collaborative partnership between male activists and female activists.
References
Berlatsky, N. O. A. H. (2013). When men experience sexism. The Atlantic. Retrieved from, https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/when-men-experience-sexism/276355/
Cihangir, S., Barreto, M., & Ellemers, N. (2014). Men as allies against sexism. SAGE Open, 4(2), 215824401453916. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2158244014539168
Drury, B., & Kaiser, C. (2014). Allies against sexism: The role of men in confronting sexism. Journal Of Social Issues, 70(4), 637-652. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/josi.12083
