Sexism
What are AFAB& AMAB Bodies?
AFAB: Assigned Female At Birth, this is a term that includes the majority of women who identify as cisgender women, the trans men, and non-binary folks, who are effected by the ownership of a traditionally female body at birth
AMAB: Assigned Male At Birth, this is a term that includes the majority of men who identify as cisgender men, the trans women, and non-binary folks, who are effected by the ownership of a traditionally male body at birth.
Intersex: There are also individuals who are intersex- or have some/all of both traditional sex characteristics, many people are born this way and some even never find out. Intersex individuals have the right to live in their bodies however, and as whomever they feel is right. As we breifly mentioned, many people have a slight variation and never find out they are intersex, because of the over-stimagtization of deciding sex on developing body parts.
Systems of Sexism on AFAB and Intersex bodies:
Forced Labor/ Motherhood
Many ethnic groups experience forced labor, but AFAB bodies have taken on the brunt of traditionally submissive roles in a completely different category of work. Even in each of these seperate groups, AFAB bodies have traditionally taken on the brunt of home-making labor, childbirth-labor, motherhood, and running the household 24/7. Many women were also tasked with maintaining the homestead if their partner/husband was away at work.
Most stay at home moms who do all of the house work and raising of the children, including childbirth-labor, could cost up to $400,000/yr.
Sexual Objects/ Rape
Often times we see AFAB bodies represented as sexual objects for traditional male pleasure. Because of this, many advertisements & marketing attempts are based on selling sex.
While selling sex isn't bad, selling false ideals of sex to young men & women, makes a very difficult sexist environment for women and AFAB people in society.
Laws and regulations -especially around sex industries- reflect this sexism.
Femininity
The use of 'femininity' 's definition has been manipulated to define now the more traditional jobs, behavior, and lifestyle of females/women -more specifically in a submissive role typically to a man.
However... femininity is really anything an AFAB person decides is part of who they are. So the parts of us that make us strong, couragous, brave, gentle, loving, mean, angry, etc. Anything that is park of your experience of a Female Body/ Woman Experience is a part of feminity in its truer meaning.
This includes trans women and their experiences learning femininity in its true meaning.
The use of idealistic femininity can be detrimental to our health, by idolization of bodies, experiences, and lives, than none of us can truely attain.
Foundations of Sexism History:
'The American women still sees herself defined as a women that happens to be a human being, while men are viewed as human beings who happen to be male,' (Adams, 1967)
Sexism is defined as, 'prejudice/discrtimination & stereotyping, typically against women, on the basis of sex'. (Oxford, 2023).
Similar to racism it is oppression of a minority, but it can be coupled with other minority oppression groups such as racism, xenophobia, transphobia, etc.
"It does not have to be hostile to be harmful,"- and has caused our patriarchy to view women as unequal to men.
Sexism is a societal belief that women are inferior and it presents itself in everyday life, which creates dangerous outcomes for women all over the world everyday. Many women had to get their husbands permission to do anything they wanted to do, especially work. The workforce didn't fully accept women until 1945, and women weren't allowed to stay in all of their positions early on. By the 1970s people started accepting more women into more industries, but still no manual labor. In 1974, women were finally granted the right to have their own credit cards in their own names, even if they were not married. Women added several million dollars to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) that went, (and goes) unpaid & unseen in: housework, manual labor, childbarring, child raising, and sex (Etc.).
In 1972, Roe vs. Wade was codified into law, protecting a women's (AFAB person's) right to choose when it came to their abortion rights. This also upheld legislation that protected the right privacy around medical decisions, establishing a stronger basis to form HIPPA in 1996. All of it rides on the back on try to control women as a whole, and their reproductive health. It is not to go without mentioning that Black women took the brunt of this fight, as they were the most underserved community when it came to proper healthcare, and advocation for their autonomy/ consent. Many Black women were sterilized/ raped/ experimented on in the begining of OBGYN fields deciding to discuss the female anatomy. So it's important that we recognize the unseen backbone and unheard voices in the movement for womens and AFAB people's right to choose, have medical privacy, and their consent.
Also check out our Femininity and Masculinity page for more information on gender binaries and how these social systems impact everybody's way of life.
Imagine you identify as female and live in the UK in 2018, you've just been hired by a professional services firm and today you walk into your training event, first day on the job, you are handed a score sheet, just like the one to the left. You are taken back a little, but you try to justify it and give these people the benefit of the doubt, until... you start to notice some things these employers want your scores on, especially when you realize the score sheet is grading your characteristics and forming gender bias based on those scores. This article specificly, talks about confirmation bias, where the outcomes do reflect the community of which they surveyed. Its the strength of these stereotypes, fueled by marketing and social systems of gender binaries, that complete the forced nature of our need to fit in to society. Thus adding to the sexism AFAB and Intersex people face, on the basis of presentation of bodily features and behavior.
Patriarchy
What is the Patriarchy?
Well Patriarch is another name for king, or specifically male head of household. This is the dominant form of systems across the world. Kings have rules over many different lands for centuries, and pride their control over women and young girls. It's important to remember that many systems uphold the social system of patriarchy and it should be something you look out for.
We saw women enter the workforce and into leadership positions around 1960, but women are still not pair equal wages for their work. Many community groups and religious groups will have similar systems in the ways in which they function.
Matriarchy
What is a Matriarchy?
A Matriarchy is the inverse of the Partiarchy, in which women are held above and in leadership positions more often than their male counterparts. Many martiarchal societies have keep themselves secluded, and have to avoid these strong social systems in place. Many of these groups do not exist any more, or are only beginning to re-emerge with the consciousness of equitable parts of a healthy home maintaining relationship.
While there is much to be explored when it comes to the strength of a matriarchy, many focus on the equality and equitability of men and women together.
This article discussses womens role in the economy over time, nationally. the graphs below show different ethnicities of women and their participation in the labor force over time, begining in 1930 and ending in 2020. as you can see, women did not have many oportunities in the work force until about the mid/late 1950s. Though this article makes sure to point out that the womens workforce was negatively affected by their husbands income until the mid 20th century, the more he made, the less she made.
"Women contribute trillions of dollars to the economy each day in paid and unpaid labor"
Gender Equality improves the economy:
"The World Economic Forum expects that it will now take more than 130 years to close gender gaps worldwide, up from about 100 years before the pandemic. " -https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/09/27/sp092722-ggopinath-kgef-gender-korea -