Sexism

Ever wondered why as a young man, one should forego a seat to elderly people and ladies, and follow “ladies first” rule? It is easy to understand why one is encouraged to give up the seat to elderly people, but it is kind of complex to give up a seat to a lady especially one has the same age as one. Giving up a seat to elderly people is quite comprehensible because in Philippine’s culture, one is being taught to have this respect, but for the ladies? Why?


Giving up a seat to a lady in the Philippines setting is a sign of one being a gentleman, because gentleman always have this mindset of letting the ladies first, walking on the side where one is dangerous than the other, pulling a chair to let a lady seat, are some of the ways of the gentlemen. It is understood in the Philippine’s setting prioritizing a lady is an act of being a gentleman mainly because the culture taught the Filipinos to do so. In other setting like America, if one gives up a seat to a lady, then one is going to be called as a sexist. A community issue of today, sexism is the perception that a gender is better than the other; hence there is a need to discuss the causes, the effects, and the preventions of sexism.


There are so many imperfections in life, sexism is one of them. Sexism is caused by pride, differences (physically), culture and tradition, and likes. Pride is a way where one is a full of himself. One tends to act according to ego in which one is inconsiderate of the feelings of others. Physical Difference is more of the appearances that man and woman distinctively possessed. Man is created with broad shoulders and woman is created with slim shoulders are some of the many examples. Culture and tradition, is more of a practice passed from generations to generations. Woman before is considered to be inferior while man superior. Likes are more of preferences to things in life like: color, man is red and woman is pink; man plays robot toys and woman plays stuff toys. Sexism is still evident today because those people who practice sexism is still somehow conventional in thinking.


When there are causes of sexism, there are effects of sexism. The effects of sexism are: inequality and low self-esteem. Inequality is a situation that one sex is not at the same level as another sex so the gap between the two genders is elongated far from each other in a way that the two genders become strangers to each other, that’s why sexism has the chance to barge in because of the situation. The treatment is also somehow different because same genders complement each other making another gender somehow angry and jealous that is why one gender tends to have this sexism-like feeling toward that gender. Low self-esteem, one has this kind of problem when one does not have enough confidence because of the teasing and bullying suffered from the opposite gender. Teasing and bullying are caused by pride, differences (physically), culture and tradition, and likes. The farther is the distinctiveness, the bigger is the teasing and bullying.


Here are some of the examples of sexism in different situations in life: domestic violence. Men are likely to become more violent (like homicide and murder) than women no matter who start the conflict (“Sexism”,n.d.); rape. According to Mary Odem and Jody Clay- Warner, men rape women is not caused by some cognitive problems but because of the belief that men are more superior to women (“Sexism”,n.d.); education. Way back, women were never included in schooling, even if they were, they never had the chance to study what they like (“Sexism”,n.d.). According to research, male students are often receiving compliments than female does from the teachers (“Sexism”, n.d.); military service. In military cases, men are obliged to go to military when they are at the right age (18), but women are not required to go to military (“Sexism”, n.d.).


Sexism is something that majority don’t want to have in the society because it tends to bring people down in a way that there is no equality. In order to stop sexism, there must be preventions. Sexism can be prevented by accepting and tolerating others. Acceptance is something that one has trust between others because if one has 100% trust on others, then one has acceptance. Tolerance is accepting others despite of difficulty. Situations in life are never easy, because it needs steps by steps especially if it is about tolerating what one dislikes. Prevention can be done to sexism if one could apply acceptance and tolerance.


Sexism is a perception that a gender is better than another gender. It has causes and effects to many parts of life. It is such a major problem, but it can be prevented by having acceptance and tolerance.




Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexism