Is the definition of sexism sexist?

[Jon]

I got this definition from the internet:

"Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls."

The issue I have is with this part:

but it primarily affects women and girls."

Truncated, it says: "Sexism is discrimination based on a person's gender, especially women."

Is this not a case of sexism within the definition of sexism? To suggest you cannot discriminate between the genders and then immediately following that, discriminate between the genders, well, it begs the question!

Do you think this definition of sexism is a case of sexism?

[Additional thought: You cannot differentiate between the sexes in the UK for car insurance, despite the risk profiles being different for each gender. Some drivers are more likely to have an accident, especially men. Yet European law has essentially said you can no longer have this sexist distinction. So why is it ok for the EU to remove considering the risk being higher for men for car insurance (in the name of sexism), yet the definition of sexism itself includes the risk being higher for women?]

 

[Bee]

I don't understand why you are so hung up on what seems to be semantics. It primarily affects women and girls because of the whole patriarchy thing I've been bleating on about ad infinitum. I'm not going to re-rehearse those arguments here.

If you feel hard done by, come up with solutions.

 

[Jon]

If talking about how to define something, is that not the topic of semantics?

The solution would be to remove the definition that sexism mostly affects one gender, since then it doesn't incriminate itself as being a sexist definition.

 

[Bee]

I used Chamber's Dictionary for a definition. I have used a Chamber's Dictionary since I was a child. Here is their definition:

"sexism noun: contempt shown for or discrimination against a particular sex, usually by men of women, based on prejudice or stereotype."
ETYMOLOGY: 1960s.

and this from the OED:

"Prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex."
‘sexism in language is an offensive reminder of the way the culture sees women’

So, it would seem to be pretty conclusive that the best example both of the powerhouse dictionary providers can come up with is that sexism mainly (not always) occurs against women.

I therefore put it to you that you don't like the example, rather than the definition is incorrect.

 

[Jon]

I am not making any claims over which sex is more guilty of sexism, or if indeed there is any difference. I personally think that each sex has its own guilt in this regard. e.g. men pay for meals on dates. Some argue this is "culture", yet this is still differentiating something based on gender. Sexist!

I am also not saying the definition is incorrect. Let us hypothetically assume men are more sexist than women (which I dispute). It merely means that the definition of sexism is sexist, not that it is not true. But given that, how do you eradicate sexism if you start with a sexist definition in the first place! Is that not similar to the case of one of the promoters of the #metoo movement, who suggested women should be believed, who then herself gets accused of sexual assault? She is caught in a trap of her own making! If she considers only women should be believed, she is being sexist. But in this case, she is the promoter of something she is being herself accused of. That is similar to the sexism definition.