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Subtle Sexism
Subtle Sexism
Flynn Caitlin, (2015), despite the many gains we've made over the past century, sexism
is still a major problem in our society. On average, women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man
makes, our reproductive rights are consistently under siege, and according to the Rape, Abuse &
Incest National Network, one out of every six women will be sexually assaulted during her lifetime.
Of course, I recognize that I am infinitely more fortunate than many women in the world — I benefit
from the work of countless feminist trailblazers who dedicated their lives to ensuring that women
have the right to vote, attend college, and pursue countless amazing opportunities. Plus, I was
raised by a woman who instilled in me the importance of independence, and taught me to prioritize
my education and to never simply follow a guy's lead. (Shout-out to my mom, who is definitely
reading this.) There's no denying that women have made a lot of progress in this country, and
that's something to be grateful for. But it doesn't mean our work is done, by any stretch of the
imagination.
Like every woman, I've dealt with countless instances of blatant sexism, which never
ceases to infuriate me. But gender inequality is so deeply woven into society that most women
regularly experience subtle sexism, too — and we don't always recognize it. And even when we
do, we sometimes simply brush it off because we have bigger battles to fight, or because others
pressure us to "not make a big deal out of it." However, confronting subtle sexism can be really
important — because when we do so, we're asserting that we always deserve to be treated with
Blatant sexism is defined as obviously unequal and unfair treatment of women relative to men,
whereas covert sexism is defined as unequal and unfair treatment of women that is recognized
but purposefully hidden from view. Both blatant and covert sexism are intended, but only covert
sexism is hidden. In comparison to these two forms, subtle sexism represents unequal and unfair
normative, and therefore does not appear unusual. Thus, like covert sexism, subtle sexism is
hidden but unlike covert sexism, subtle sexism is not intentionally harmful. Subtle sexism is
particularly interesting from both theoretical and practical perspectives because it may be quite
Sexist language is an example of subtle sexism in that it consists of speech that reinforces
and perpetuates gender stereotypes and status differences between women and men. Sexist
language is learned at an early age and can be considered a linguistic habit. People may use
sexist language for a variety of reasons. They may do so because it is traditional, it is ingrained
in current written and spoken language and can be difficult to change, people lack knowledge
about what constitutes sexist language, people do not believe that such language is sexist, or
Swim, Jannet K. et. Al. (2014) Understanding Subtle Sexism: Detection and Use
of Sexist Language,
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