Sexism

Sexism refers to prejudice, devaluation, disadvantage, or violence based on gender, assigned gender, gender expression, or related gender roles. It can affect women, trans, non-binary, and intersex people, as well as people who are perceived as “not properly masculine” or “not properly feminine.” In patriarchal societies, however, sexism does not operate symmetrically: it particularly affects women, people read as female, and femininity, and is closely linked to structural inequality.

Sexism appears not only in openly hostile statements, but also in seemingly harmless expectations, jokes, stereotypes, unequal pay, sexual harassment, the devaluation of care work, restrictions on bodily autonomy, or the assumption that certain abilities, interests, or behaviors “naturally” belong to one gender. Cis men can also be restricted or devalued by sexist gender norms, for example when vulnerability, care, or non-normative masculinity is punished. This does not change the fact that men as a group are socially privileged in many areas.

Sexism is a social and structural phenomenon, but it can also appear in everyday interactions between individuals. Not every harmful act against a woman or a non-male person is automatically sexist; what matters is whether gender, gender roles, or the devaluation of femininity or nonconformity play a relevant role. Sexism and misogyny overlap strongly: sexism more often describes the broader system of unequal treatment and gender norms, while misogyny refers especially to the devaluation, hostility, or control directed at women, femininity, and people associated with them.