Final Summary/Reaction

After following, observing, and studying sexism for the past couple months, I have learned so much more than I ever expected. Recently, after I gave out the scenarios and observed sexism in the environment around  me, I learned that sexism is alive and thriving and that both males and females experience it in every age group. People are so quick to assume or judge when it comes to discriminating toward the opposite (or even the same) sex. People thought that a rape was automatically done by the male when I asked them in a certain scenario, but it was in fact the woman. Then, I told a male that someone stole nailpolish from a store, was it the male or female? Obviously, he said female. But in actuality, it was the male. Situations like these made people really think about what it means to be sexist and to just assume something due to sex. It was interesting to see what people thought and how growing up in today's society can influence your thoughts.

Revised Summary/Plan/Update

My Sexism research has been going well. I went to the mall and wrote down what I saw in a restaurant, male and female-dominated stores, a hair salon, and in a gender-neutral store, Target. I wrote down how males and females interacted and how workers interacted with the different sexed-customers. My findings were very interesting. I still have yet to give out the scenarios. I decided that I am going to show people a random item (ex. a leather wallet or a sneaker) and ask them who it belongs to, a male or female. I will also give people a scenario and/or a career and ask them who did it. For example, a firefighter- male or female? Or a kid was beaten in his home- was it the mom or dad? I will give many people of different age groups and genders.

Strategy/ Plan for Research

In my research, I am going to use participants of both sexes because sexism can occur among and sex, and preferably teens and people in their 20's. I will use people of all different ethnic backgrounds. I will see how sexism varies among age and race and how those who are older face sexism versus those who are younger.
I will give these people a scenario, like a home invasion, and ask them who did it- the male or the female. I will also observe it in the mall around me. I will go to the mall and see how workers interact with other workers and customers and see how people react toward others, too. To collect this data, I would like to keep a journal and write down what's going on as it is happening. As for the scenarios, I would make people write down their answer on a piece of paper. I predict that I will see a lot of sexism going on, mostly focused on women. Although there is sexism toward men, it is primarily toward women in my opinion. However, I will see for myself and record my results.

Sexism Research Method

My method of research for sexism will be to give people scenarios and ask who did it, the male or female and to observe and witness it in the world around me and document it. I am doing this because it takes a little more than asking questions to research the topic. I want to see how society reacts to sexism in certain settings. You need to go and witness it in the world in order to see it in action and how it is still present in our world today. I believe that by this, we can catch people being sexist (maybe even being sexist without even knowing it) and try to figure out why they are doing that. By this, we can help put an end to sexism, or at least have a starting place.  

Hold the Door, You Sexist Man!

Often, we talk about females being discriminated against due to their sex. However, society tends to forget that this happens to men too. On askmen.com, there is a little quote "Are you damned if you do, damned if you don't?" and underneath, an article called "Is Holding the Door Sexist?". This article addresses the fact that men are expected to be chivalrous, yet if they do something for a women, they are deemed sexist and that they believe women are weak.  Men are damned if they hold the door, but damned if they don't. My own experience of what this article explains comes from hanging out with my friends. My friends and I were walking out of a diner last month. My guy friend sped ahead and held the door for a woman  and she was very appreciative. We walked away, then another man opened the door for his wife. "What, you don't think I can't open a door because I'm a woman? It ain't that big and heavy," the woman snapped. I couldn't believe I heard what I did. Sexism right in front of my face.  
When I read the article, I immediately thought of the incident from last month. I didn't realize it at the moment, but that was so sexist. My guy friend was thanked for holding the door for a woman, while another man was scolded for holding a door for a woman. I felt bad for men, as I bet they go through this a lot. There is really no way out of it for them. If they don't hold the door, they're rude. But if they hold the door, they're calling the woman feeble. 
Sexism is a man's problem, too.

Sexism in Sports

              

              Sexism has been a hot topic in sports for a long time. Recently, we as a society have been making leaps and bounds in that department. Women are playing just as hard as the men, with the blood, sweat, and tears to prove it. In fact, the line between men and women coaches in professional sports is becoming blurry in Northern Ireland, where some believe it won't be too long before a woman is appointed Premier League manager. In an article by Chicago Tribute, Former Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez states, "Whether (it is) because she's the best person out there or because of the commercial aspect that comes with it, the reason will be that it is the best situation for the club." This is obviously a huge deal.  It's like women's fight for equality didn't end with the Civil Right's Act. We are proving to be a strong sex. The Football Association appointed Heather Rabbatts its director last year and she also urged change in the sport. She says, "Now can we get some diversity around what happens in football (American soccer) which particularly includes and represents women."
                I think this is great. Having been a soccer, baseball, and basketball player, I have been through sexism a lot in the sports I love. However, by people world-round taking small steps like these, we are becoming so close to not having to face gender discrimination every time we step onto that field/court. 

Have you experienced any sexism in sports?

Seth MacFarlane & The Oscars: Sexism Gone Overboard?

Sunday night, I curled up with some Ben & Jerry's and watched the Oscars. I love Seth MacFarlane- I watch his shows all the time because I think he's so hilarious. However, little by little, I started to become offended by what I was hearing. The first thing was the "Boob Song" which ended up coming off as extremely degrading to women.  Next was one of the worst jokes, "'Django Unchained' was the story of a man fighting to get back his woman, who has been subjected to unthinkable violence. Or as Chris Brown and Rihanna call it, a date movie.” 

My jaw dropped.

What are you saying, Seth? Domestic violence is okay? Domestic violence is funny? 

Vulture and Buzzfeed have already written articles about the horrendous treatment women received during the Oscars. Seth didn't fail to mention a crude joke about women dieting until they're sick before the Oscars. Don't forget his joke about the Kardashian women having a beard. Oh, and how women are difficult as seen in the movie "Zero Dark Thirty".

Another interesting thing you can see in the comments on Buzzfeed is a lot of men trying to justify MacFarlane's actions. Many men's reaction to this is "You can't take a joke?" Truth be told, I can. But this was just one too many. Another stupid reason men seem to be using is "That's his sense of humor! What'd you expect?" I get it. Put it in your cartoons, Seth. But when you're in front of adults and millions of other people...save that crude sense of humor.It was simply just inappropriate. 

I would say "typical men" but that would sexist, wouldn't it...?

Gender Discrimination or Business?

This video explains the story of an Iowa woman, Melissa Nelson, who was fired from her job in a dental office after her boss claimed she was "simply irresistible". Boss James Knight claimed her clothes were "distracting" because they "accentuated her body" and he would ask her to cover up with a lab coat. She had been working for him for 10 years. She claimed that she didn't wear tight clothing; rather, loose scrubs she wore under her lab coat. Both boss and employee would text back and forth and Knight would say inappropriate things to her (for example, that her inconsistent sex life was like "having Lamborghini in the garage and never driving it"). Then she got fired because he said she "jeopardized" his marriage and she was just  "too sexy". After suing for gender discrimination, the all-male jury did not find Knight guilty.
If she was a guy, this would have all been avoided.

Sexism at its finest.

When I saw this, I was in shock. This perverted, unprofessional boss is going to fire a 10-year employee because he can't resist her? And the jury doesn't find him guilty of gender discrimination?! I don't know how anyone can hear this woman's story and truly agree with the "it wasn't gender discrimination" side. If she were a man, doing the same job as her, making the same money, with the same boss, this would have never happened. I wanted to jump into the screen and stand up for her!

Whats's your opinion? Gender discrimination or the right thing to do?

The Friend Zone: A Men's Only Land?

    In this video by CollegeHumor, Eve and Adam seem to have some chemistry in the beginning. Adam takes this as a sign, but his advances are shut down by Eve. She makes up excuses as to why she can't be with him, and goes on a date with the serpent. Ha ha. Adam has been put into the infamous Friend Zone.
The "Friend Zone'' is a term that describes when a guy likes a girl, and they are close, but she would never want anything more than a friendship with him.
    You would almost never hear of a girl being put in the Friend Zone. When I argued my guy friends about the fact that a girl can definitely be put in the Friend Zone, they laughed at me and denied all my arguments. Sexism is definitely present here.
    My reaction when I saw this video was laughter followed by me saying, "Any guy who sees this can probably relate so well." Guys believe that they are constantly being put in the Friend Zone by girls they like. In that moment, sexism is present because it gives them the sense that most girls use guys to have them as friends and talk about stuff they can't talk about to their girl friends. It's a stereotype against women. However, it's not true in most cases, because women don't always want the guy to only be their friend, and we can and have been put into this dreaded place.

If you told a guy that, they wouldn't believe it.

    A Chicago Tribune writer writes about the Friend Zone and describes it as: "When a guy agrees to be friends, he's forced to stifle his attraction while regularly seeing and talking to the woman he's attracted to. She discusses her love life and has the audacity to ask his advice on it. He performs occasional 'manly' household and automotive favors for the women. Essentially, he does everything a boyfriend would do – without the benefits."
     Notice the word choice in this excerpt. It speaks about the male being shut down by the female. Males have this idea that it's all the woman's fault. They think that there's no possible way that a girl can be put in the Friend Zone; women are the bad guys.

What do you think? Is the Friend Zone a "Men's Only" Land? Or do women roam around in there too?
    

 This is a picture of a woman (most likely in the 60's) next to a bottle of ketchup. The captions says, "You mean a woman can open it?". Basically what that's saying is that it must be really easy to open and you don't need your...muscular...manly...husband to open it for you. However, this goes much deeper than it seems. "You mean a woman can open it?" really translates to "You mean there's something a woman can do without her man's help?"  Don't get me wrong, there are definitely women who are sexist towards men. For example, we expect the guy to pay for dinner, be tough, and we believe ourselves to be more intelligent and have more common sense.

The battle of the sexes is inevitable.

Something most people don't know is that there are five different types of sexism (click on link to read the article) : old-fashioned sexism, modern sexism, hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and ambivalent sexism. Old fashioned sexism says that men are straight-up superior to women. You'd find them saying "Women are good for cooking and cleaning, but the men are the ones who bring home the bacon."
 The second type is modern sexism. This type says,

1. The belief that sexism is no longer a problem in today's world
2. That programs designed to help women are not necessary
3. That women who complain about sexism are just causing trouble.

To sum it up, some people truly believe that sexism isn't even an issue anymore. They think that women receive their fair pay and everything else is equal for them in society like job opportunities. 

The next type of sexism is hostile sexism, and it's named that for a reason. It's the belief that women are whiny, sexual teases who take pride in and enjoy putting men down. They believe women are trying to take their power away. 

The fourth type is benevolent sexism. This is the belief that women should be treated like princesses because they have the angelic qualities that men lack. This degrades women and makes them dependent.

 The final type is ambivalent sexism. This states the belief that some women are good and pure, while others are bad and deserve bad things. It's really a combination of hostile and benevolent sexism. Who would have thought there were so many types, anyway?

My reaction to this was I couldn't believe there were all these different types of sexism going on in the world around me. The type I feel most prevalent in the world from my standpoint is old-fashioned sexism. The amount of "kitchen" and "make me a sandwich" jokes that are out there and constantly said by males is astonishing. Take for example, "Why did the women cross the road? I don't know, but what is she doing out of the kitchen?". However, on the other end of the spectrum, the type I feel least prevalent in the world today is benevolent sexism. C'mon, how many guys really believe that all women are nice and beautiful and ponies and rainbows and should be treated like princesses? Eh, not many. This is evident through modern-day music and just society outlook in general. 

Now I want your opinion. Do you believe sexism is geared more towards men or women? How did you come to your conclusion? 

Why did I choose Sexism?

The answer is simple - my top choice was taken so this was the next best thing. 
Nah, not really. I chose this topic because it's something we as a society see and deal with every single day. It is an interesting topic to explore.