Sexism by Cudd and Jones: Distribution of Opportunities to Men and Women
Sexism by Cudd and Jonnes In the reading Sexism by Cudd and Jones, they express that women worldwide live lesser lives than that of men. The central reasons they provide for this disparity is that women are by nature inferior to men and society has systematically created a disadvantage for them. They go into great detail in defining sexism basically as a systematic inequality and give a general example that, “if the distribution of opportunities systematically deprives women of what is offered to, men, and there is no apparent overriding reason which justifies such a distribution, then we have a clear prima facie case of sexism.” They then go on to give background information on language, experience, and recognition of sexism. There are many different levels of sexism: institutional, interpersonal, and unconscious. A great example they provide of institutional is that of the Catholic Church, were women can be priest but women cannot due to explicit rules. Interpersonal, is that of personal interactions and an example they provide are when a couple is buying a car and the salesperson speaks only to the man. Unconscious is a psychological based attitude and I found it interesting that this level there is a belief that there is a motivation for neither women nor men to think of women as the oppressed and men the oppressor. I found this reading very informative and as a man opened my eyes to situations where sexism and sexist language is used. For example, as a young man playing sports the coach saying, “you play like a girl.” Without thinking into it I never had associated language with being so sexist, but after this reading and some minor thought, it clearly is and it is consistent in day-to-day life that begins at a young age being in throbbed into our