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.