Where did sexism originate from and why has it remained in the present day? Why has it not gone away sooner?
In: Culture
Sexism, like all the other -isms, is derived from people observing the world and extrapolating from what they observe.
Consider the following question: “if you had a question about Shakespeare, would you ask a dentist or a plumber?”
Now, neither dentists nor plumbers are experts on Shakespeare. But most people would ask a dentist first because they view dentists as more educated – and thus more likely to have knowledge of Shakespeare.
This might be termed “occupation-ism” – making an assumption about someone based on their occupation.
Sexism is much the same way. It’s fairly easy to note differences between men and women, then assume that tendencies of the group dictate the preferences of the individual. For example, men tend to prefer bitter while women prefer sweet. However, that doesn’t mean there are no women who like black coffee or no men who drink caramel mocchiatos.
This is the general basis for all of those “-isms” – making judgments about an individual based on their group identity (and the proclivities of that group) rather than on their individual characteristics.
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