Hey Steemers,
So I know you read this title and thought to your self "what the hell does he know" he isn't women, He has never experienced sexism in his entire life.
That is partly true, I am not a woman. I have however experienced Homophobia (please note I extend this to all LGTBQI prejudicial acts) and can assure you it is just as bad as sexism.
My post is going to talk about why to those who are not affected (or even those who don't realize they are affected) by Sexism, Homophobia or prejudice that there is a reason why.
Firstly lets set the scene, in Western Civilisation (at least generally) there has been long-standing traditions and practice of sexism and homophobia. From the patriarchal systems of marriage, governance, finances and even education! There is without a doubt, females and homosexuals have experienced injustice throughout the last millennia all because of their gender and sexuality. Something that for many of them was born on to them.
I don't want to portray women or homosexuals as weak, but they have (and still are very much so) endured injustice for most of recorded history.
To give some perspective, feminism didn't even appear as a concept until the 1890's and for those who are not familiar with the suffragette movement, women were not even considered responsible enough (or even differentiated from animals in some places) to vote until the better part of the 20th century. In some states of the USA, it is still illegal to engage in homosexual acts... TODAY! Women still face a huge inequality in the workforce, receiving considerable less pay than their male counterparts. Sexual assault of Females is so high that 1 in 3 women suffer it in their lifetimes. LGBTQI individuals are more likely to commit self-harm then any other demographic.... BY FAR!
How can all this be still going on today, and yet a very large portion of society claim there is nothing wrong. How can Sexism and Homophia remain invisible to so many people?
MY THEORY
I believe there are two things going on that is currently preventing a stronger change towards equality and equal rights.
The first: Sympathise with what?
I understand that to someone who has never experienced sexism, they struggle to envision it... they struggle to understand how something so natural could impact your life in such a huge way. Its unfathomable to them. For that reason, I believe a large group of people no matter how hard they try can never fully understand the environment they have created for people. There was a great experiment done by Jane Elliott several years ago. In this experiment, they are focusing on Racism, but the principals are exactly the same. In essence, people treat someone as less based on something they can not control. Watch a summary of it here .
This experiment shows the power of empathy, as displayed when someone has experienced the injustice of prejudice they get upset and realize how horrible it is. Well, the majority of Straight White Males don't experience anything comparable to homophobia or sexism so how can they every empathize authentically. For that reason, I believe it is not easy for them to emphasize and support the equality movements. Unfortunately, I believe it takes a lot more experiments like this one to show people that society and the traditions we all practice do not treat us all equally.
The Second: Complacency?
This point is really simple. Society has become complacent with the traditions and practices of our past. We have been practicing patriarchy for centuries. Homosexuals have been a point of shame and disgust for even longer. In order to change the ways we treat women and homosexuals, we need to drastically shake up society. This is going to upset and hurt a lot of people. Unlearning the practices and traditions that you have inherited is not an easy task, but it is none the less necessary to eliminate prejudice in their practice.
The new society needs to be fostered and created by all members equally. Not men, not hetros, not caucasians. Everyone equally.
Some Examples of Images
The end.
I hope you found my opinions interesting. I do stress they are simply my personal opinions and that is all they should be read as.