How Sexism Is Different From Gaslighting: Phenomena You Should Get Rid Of

There are many disgusting things going on in the world that have not yet received their name in Russian. This does not mean that you can close your eyes to them. Harassment, misogyny and other horrors spoil the life of half of humanity. The life hacker compiled a short dictionary of a novice anti-sexist with visual illustrations that will help you understand what you need to fight with.

Feminism

The first word in the dictionary is initially without negative. This is the general name for movements associated with women's struggle for their rights. Feminism stands for the equal participation of women and men in economic and political life and for a woman, not only on paper, but also in reality, to be an independent person, and not an attachment to a man.

For example, for specialists of the same level to have the same salary, so that men and women have equal electoral rights, so that in the minds of people, occupations are not divided into purely male and female.

Feminism emerged in the 19th century and gradually changed. Now there are many trends and trends behind this term. On some issues (attitudes towards men, for example), feminists may have diametrically opposed views.

Gender

Social gender of a person. Biological sex is determined by anatomy, and gender is determined by the attitudes of society and human behavior. It is gender equality that is one of the goals of feminism.

Example: "You're a girl," "You're a man."

From birth girls are wrapped in pink envelopes, boys - in blue. Boys are given cars, girls - dolls. Girls are dragged to ballroom dancing, where they miss having partners, because all the boys at this time are playing in the football section. The girls are sent in formation to the Faculty of Humanities, the guys - to the Physics and Technology Department. And they continue to live within gender attitudes, although this limits the choice in absolutely all spheres of life.

Sexism

This is gender discrimination. Sexism manifests itself in the form of a distribution of responsibilities in society and is enshrined even at the legislative level: the time of the onset of retirement age, conscription, a ban on certain labor activities, court decisions on the right of custody of children. Determine for yourself in which of these cases sexism ruins the life of men, and in which - women.

Example: "All men are goats, and all women are bitches."

Domestic sexism is even more common. Men are perceived as a means of earning money, women - as a means of arranging everyday life.

Dehumanization

The process of depriving a group of people of human status. The desired group is declared unworthy, parasitic and enemy. This means that every representative of this group must be fought. If it will not be possible to exterminate it (as is the case with women), then at least completely subordinate and control every step, otherwise you never know what these pests will do. The opinion of the representatives of the group itself can be disregarded.

Dehumanization begins with renaming, so a woman should be called a heifer, a skin, and whatever else. Women continue to be treated as property: in some places on this planet, women are bought, sold, regularly beaten and killed. And this is not considered a crime.

Example: "Baba is not a man."

Sometimes biology is used to confirm this point of view. This is an attempt to reduce all social relations to biological reasons - drawing direct analogies between the animal world and society, examples of the division of labor in the Paleolithic era.

Example: "On average, a man's brain weighs more than a woman's, which means men are smarter."

Males are on average larger than females, which is why there is a difference in size. Size matters, but up to a certain point: an elephant's brain is larger than a human's, but that doesn't mean that an elephant is smarter.

Objectification

The perception of another person solely as a sexual object. The means for sex can only engage in it, and other activities are not available to him. For example, work.

It is important - we are talking about an object, not a partner. It is assumed that you agree with your partner about sex, and you do not need to ask the object especially. After all, if something is invented for sex and only for it, then it should be used for its intended purpose. No options.

Example: "Let's put a naked woman on a poster in an advertisement for motor oil, it always works."

If a woman does not look attractive to a man, even if she is not going to seduce him, they begin to blame her for this, and this is already body shaming (shame for the body).

Example: "What are you lecturing here, I would lose weight better."

In general, a woman should always be sexually attractive to a man. And the world actively supports this masculine point of view. In cinema, in literature, in games, in the media and everywhere, a woman is portrayed in such a way as to arouse and interest a man. This phenomenon is called Male Gaze - male gaze.

Glass ceiling

Formally not a designated barrier, because of which a woman is not allowed to move up the career ladder.

Example: “Why do you need a promotion, you have a husband. And Yura still needs to feed his family."

Harassment

This is harassment. Behavior that violates the boundaries of another person's privacy. The word is broadly defined, but when it comes to gender relations, it is used to mean "sexual harassment." Sometimes the definition is narrowed down to the meaning of “sexual harassment at work”, often with the use of official position.

Examples: rude jokes, spanking, harassment.

One of the most used terms for exaggeration: any signs of attention can, if desired, be called harassment. In the other direction, it also works: supposedly in some countries, compliments cannot be made, because they are regarded as harassment.

Misogyny

Hatred and contempt for women. Whatever the woman does, it will be bad anyway.

Women themselves have excelled in misogyny. Especially when trying to add value by pointing out the shortcomings of other women. Everything is recorded in shortcomings: from feminist views to love for the household.

Example: "A woman is not a fool because she is a fool, but because a woman is."

The opposite term is misandry, that is, hatred of men.

Victimblaming

Victim blame. In this case, it is considered that the injured party is responsible for the crime, because by its behavior it somehow provoked the aggressor. A very popular public position on rape-related issues.

Example: “Why did you take the bus home on payday? It was necessary to call a taxi, then the wallet would not have been stolen."

In fact, it is a defense mechanism of the psyche. When a person accuses a victim of misconduct, he is implying that there are rules that guarantee protection from crime. “I'm doing everything right. This will never happen to me. Unfortunately, criminals do what they break the rules, and therefore this approach does not work.

Gaslighting

This is a form of suppression of another person, in which the victim is convinced that everything is fine, and the problems are invented. For gaslighting, they use doubts about the victim's adequate behavior, questions about mental health, remind about the bias of the victim's opinion.

Example: “You are a feminist because you don’t have a normal man. Stop doing stupid things, you will get married right away."