That's Not Sexist

I am tired of people accusing me of being sexist every time I make a general observation about the opposite sex. Sexism is “Prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex” as defined by the English Oxford Dictionary.* From the same source, prejudice is a “Preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience”, a stereotype is “A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing” and discrimination is “The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.” Prejudicial is simply something “Harmful to someone or something; detrimental”, while unjust means “Not based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair”, and Oversimplify means to “Simplify (something) so much that a distorted impression of it is given.” Now that all the definitions are out of the way, we can focus on the problem.

Let us suppose that throughout my life all the women I met had a below average IQ. It probably would not take me that long to conclude women are pretty stupid under that scenario. If, after I made this conclusion, I said to someone “Man, most women are stupid.” I would not be making a sexist statement. While the comment does paint a negative picture, it does not conform to any of the three criteria for it to be considered sexist. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at the details. The statement was based on my actual life experiences, so it cannot be considered prejudice. While it is a negative statement, it is not an unfair statement, considering it is what I have really observed, and I am not treating anyone harmfully, despite making a negative statement; therefore, my statement cannot be considered discrimination. Lastly, my statement is not a stereotype because even if it was a widely held belief, and it is a pretty simple statement, it is not oversimplified because it is a true statement based on my own experiences. Additionally, I only said “most women were stupid” not “all women are stupid.” Because of this, I am still admitting that there might be exceptions.

To be fair, it is really hard, at times, to prove that a person is really being sexist because, in reality, we honestly do not know what everyone else has experienced. Because of that fact, I think we should all think harder about what another person is actually trying to say instead of accusing every person with a negative comment, about the opposite sex, of being sexist. We live in a world where people are oversensitive, cannot take criticism constructively and just overall misuse terms to get their own way. Do not be one of those people. If someone says something you don’t like, prove them wrong with facts, or suck it up and get over it. Being right is not worth believing in bullshit.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me. My contact information is listed under the contact section of this site, located on the menu bar to your left. Keep in mind I will respond at my leisure, and I will be sure to post any emails that I find hilarious along with my responses to them, just because I am a dick like that. Thanks for taking the time to read this and have a great day.

Sources:
*https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/