Sexism against females
Sexism against females in its extreme form is known as misogyny, which is derived from the Greek words for "hatred of females". The term 'sexism', in common usage, usually implies sexism against females, since this is the most commonly identified form of sexism. Further, this form is often called chauvinism, though chauvinism is actually a broader term for any extreme and unreasonable partisanship that is accompanied by malice and hatred towards a rival group. A similar term is gynophobia, which refers to fears of females or feminity.
Historically, in many patriarchal societies, females have been and are viewed as the "weaker sex". Women's lower status can be seen in cases in which females were not even recognized as persons under the law of the land. The feminist movement promotes women's rights to end sexism against females by addressing issues such as equality under the law, political representation of females, access to education and employment, female victims of domestic violence, self-ownership of the female body, and the impact of pornography on women. While feminists broadly agree on the aims and goals of feminism, they may disagree on specific issues (for instance, pornography or abortion), tactics, or priorities.
The history of sexism began thousands of years ago. When the idea of patriarchy was born, women were relegated to the background, to doing domestic cares and household chores. Before the influential years, Christianity was affected by ancient dualistic beliefs originating in Persia. According to these dualistic beliefs, spirit was good and matter was evil. Eventually, this matter that was considered evil became identified with women. Touching this matter, according to the Gnostics, was defiling, and this became known as the defiling contact with women. Genesis and Aristotle had implied this idea as well. Women were seen as being created by the evil Demiurge, as matter was seen as being created by the evil Auhra-Mazda. The idea of women being evil was symbolized in many ways: for example, paradise or the garden (shal) was originally known as the garden-womb of the Goddess Mari (Shalimar) but it then became known as shell, “the pit,” which is an unpleasant hell or underworld. This womb-garden transformed into the womb-tomb; the idea of the womb being good became bad and “the pit” and its carrier became bad as well. This idea made women’s sensualness evolve into a paradigm of evil. Tertullian, a Catholic theologian who converted to Christianity and his writings influenced early Christianity, had said that woman were “the devil’s gate.” This idea of women eventually symbolized incompleteness and women were then known as the imperfect male, as it is identified in Christian tradition. The following passage from Otto Weininger’s Sex and Character reveals how women were seen in the past:
Women have no existence and no essence: they are not, they are nothing. Mankind occurs as male or female, as something or nothing. Woman has no share in ontological reality, no relation to the thing-in-itself, which, in the deepest interpretation, is the absolute, is God. Man, in his highest form, the genius, has such a relation, and for him the absolute is either the conception of the higher worth of existence, in which case he is a philosopher; or it is the wonderful fairyland of dreams, the kingdom of absolute beauty, and then he is an artist. But both views mean the same. Women has no relation to the idea, she neither affirms nor denies it; she is neither moral nor anti-moral; mathematically speaking she has no sign; she is purposeless, neither good nor bad, neither angel nor devil, never egotistical (and therefore has often been said to be altruistic); she is as non-moral as she is non-logical. But all existence is moral and logical existence. So woman has no existence. (Weininger 286, 220)
