Thoughts On The Current State Of Sexism On Our Culture

[AB Editor]

Afternoon,

I wondered what your opinion is on sexism in modern British culture?

And have you seen EveryDay Sexism on Twitter? You can catch up here: https://twitter.com/EverydaySexism - the idea is that people (usually women) can tweet them to let them know about little bits of everyday sexism they've experienced.

Have a read. It's enough to make you feel quite despondent with the world.

Is sexism as rife now as it has been in the past?

Do you think these "small" and "everyday" occurrences of sexism are excusable?

What's the right response?

[daffy654]

I think some women need to stop being so oversensitive.

[emmie]

still there, in every aspect of life, if you don't believe me have a look at any advert, many scantily clad women, often selling innocuous goods. There is still a glass ceiling in big business, and sexism in the work place, not to mention ageism.

[Maydup]

I think we should all continue to be mindful of our attitudes towards each other.

Men are accused of not being able to multi task, or suffering from man flu; while women are considered incapable of parking cars or understanding the off side rule.

Things are better than they used to be but not perfect on either side.

[ludwig]

// Is sexism as rife now as it has been in the past? //

No. Equal opportunities and anti discrimination laws have made massive changes over the last 30 or so years.

[emmie]

could be a lot better i would say.

[FredPuli43]

The examples given are mostly of crude compliments or crude flirtation. They are held sexist because they are so crude that they make the woman sound like an object. Put in more poetic or subtle language they would not be so held.

[daffy654]

Some of the stuff on that Twitter page is quite funny by the way, some people get offended by the most petty things!

[emmie]

and some get sexually harrassed day in day out, in a way that is not remotely right, complain and you could find yourself out of a job. Perhaps best to work in a much more mixed environment.

[Octavius]

FredPuli, most of the perpetrators appear to be men in vans, poetic subtlety would be lost on them, hence they revert to "type".

[woofgang]

Its just plain bad manners.
Ed, despondency at reading such stuff is one of the things that the web does....if yoy followed a different Twitter Stream about random acts of kindness, then you would see the world in a different light...the world wouldn't have changed on iota, you just would have seen reports of a different bit of it.

Not to beat an old drum but if you want to see sexism then look at some of the Eastern cultures where women cannot drive cars, go out to work and must cover themselves entirely in public and men "honestly" believe that the women want it that way, and some "Amish type" subcultures where the groups are run entirely by men.

[The Builder]

As in most things, it's really a matter of intent.
There's a cartoon on Facebook right now explaining the offside rule. It shows a kitchen with a woman standing OUTSIDE the room.

An arrow points at the woman, with the caption "offside".

Now, I think that's just a good gag. Does any thinking individual take it seriously? I don't think so.

The problems arise when comments are made under the guise of levity. When in fact, usually stemming from insecurity, the intention is deliberately pointed.

In this respect, sexism is no different from racism/ageism/etc. As with so many things, I'm with Mr Spock on this................
"It's just not logical, Captain"

[emmie]

sometimes it's subtle digs, sometimes overt sexism. Perhaps it's better now, but not by much, listen to some men talk of women in sport, playing or referring, it's not nice.

[Canary42]

Thoughts On The Current State Of Sexism On Our Culture.

Much better than fifty years ago, but still plenty of room for further improvement. And there's an unfortunate trend in incoming cultures to reverse our progress so far.

[emmie]

so there is canary, wonder if some of the younger men in our Islamic communities see their sisters or female friends as equals.. going on some of the nonsense we have seen of late, asking for separate seating at the back of the halls for the girls, this has been in some of our top universities. The universities themselves shouldn't give in to that kind of overt sexism.

[Davethedog]

Maydup I am a seaon ticket holder at a premier league club and I don't understand the off side rule.

As far as sexism go's, I think its a matter of perspective, one persons (man's) chat up line, is anothers offensive remark (Woman). I acn understand why offence might be taken, but some may take it as compliment.

When I first started work, inter office relationships were rife because a man could say that he liked someone, in possibly un PC terms. These days blokes seem petrified to talk to women about anything but work, in case they get reported to HR.

I see tons of people in their late 20's single and I wonder why.

By the way the single most sexist advert on TV is for minstrals but not a word is said, imagine if it was men going to see strippers. Dual standards

[wildwood]

Sexism will always be with us to a small degree. No matter how PC we become, generally, women will still be better at multi-tasking and men at concentrating on one task. Women will never be physically a strong as men and men will never be able to be as emotional or enduring as women. It is in our genetic makeup to survive.

The changes in the last few decades has certainly done a lot for equality but we are now going overboard with some of that PC rubbish.
If a business need a strong person for a physical job they can't advertise for a men, it must be a person. The business is not going to hire a woman for that job so women are disadvantaged by wasting their time applying.

I know, there are always exceptions.

[society]

I think it's all about having respect, good manners and tolerance. Society today is so lacking...