Reverse sexism is a controversial term fordiscrimination against men and boys, or for anti-maleprejudice.[1][2][3]The term has been used to claim that men have become the primary victims ofsexism.[4] Specifically, opponents ofaffirmative action argue that men and boys are systematically discriminated against in employment and school admissions.[5]
Reverse sexism has been compared by sociologists to the concepts of "reverse racism" and "reverseethnocentrism" in that both are a form ofbacklash by members of dominant groups (e.g., men, whites, orAnglos).[6] Reverse sexism is rebutted by analogy with the criticism of reverse racism as a response to affirmative action policies that are designed to combat institutionalized sexism and racism.[7] In more rigid forms, this stance assumes that the historicpower imbalance in favor of men has been reversed,[8] and that women are now viewed as the superior gender or sex.[9]
Feminist theoristFlorence Rush characterizes the idea of reverse sexism specifically as amisogynist reaction to feminism; men's rights activists such asWarren Farrell promote the idea of reverse sexism to argue that thefeminist movement has rearranged society in such a way that it now benefits women and harms men.[10]In the preamble to a study oninternalized sexism, Steve Bearman, Neill Korobov and Avril Thorne describe reverse sexism as a "misinformed notion", stating that "while individual women or women as a whole may enact prejudicial biases towards specific men or toward men as a group, this is done without the backing of a societal system of institutional power".[11]
^Suedfeld, Peter (2002). "Postmodernism, Identity Politics, and Other Political Influences in Political Psychology". In Monroe, Kristen R. (ed.).Political Psychology. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 321.ISBN978-1-135-64661-5.
^Neely, Carol Thomas (1981). "Feminist Modes of Shakespearean Criticism: Compensatory, justificatory, transformational".Women's Studies.9 (1):3–15.doi:10.1080/00497878.1981.9978551.ISSN0049-7878.
^Roden, Jessica (2022). "#MeToo Movement Backlash: How Evaluations of Women Advocates as More 'Sexist' Weaken Movement Support".Media Psychology.25 (6):763–778.doi:10.1080/15213269.2022.2064877.ISSN1521-3269.'Reverse sexism' is the notion that men have replaced women as the victims of gender discrimination, despite ample evidence showing otherwise.
Masequesmay, Gina (2008). "Sexism". In O′Brien, Jodi (ed.).Encyclopedia of Gender and Society, Volume 2. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. p. 750.ISBN978-1-4522-6602-2.In a cultural backlash, the termreverse sexism also emerged to refocus on men and boys and their disadvantages, especially under affirmative action.
^Renfrow, Daniel G.; Howard, Judith A. (2013). "Social Psychology of Gender and Race". In DeLamater, John; Ward, Amanda (eds.).Handbook of Social Psychology. Springer Netherlands. p. 496.doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6772-0_17.ISBN978-94-007-6772-0.
^"Sociological Abstracts: Supplement — Issues 67-77".International Review of Publications in Sociology: 202. 1977.ISSN0038-0202.[full citation needed]
^Collins, Georgia; Sandell, Renee (1984).Women, art, and education. Reston, Va.: National Art Education Association. p. 14.ISBN978-0-9376-5233-6.
^Rush, Florence (1990). "The Many Faces of Backlash". In Leidholdt, Dorchen; Raymond, Janice G. (eds.).The Sexual Liberals and the Attack on Feminism. Pergamon Press. pp. 168–169.ISBN978-0-0803-7458-1.
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