Social Psychology 4423 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social Psychology 4423 - Essay Example The aphorism, ‘men are better than women’ has become no less than a haunt for women who try to achieve an equal footing with men in the society. Women are forced to hear comments regarding their inferiority in all walks of life be it driving, office work, state affairs or something as womanly as cooking. The essay looks into the possible affects of sexism on women, how confronting sexism helps women, and a summary of the article ‘Excuse Me—What Did You Just Say?!: Women’s Public and Private Responses to Sexist Remarks’ (Swim and Hyers 68-88). Swim and Hyers have highlighted how women react to sexist remarks that they come across. The article is divided into two studies which throw light on styles of confrontations of sexism and types of responses influenced by costs of responses perceived respectively. In the first study, they have observed how women confront sexism keeping in mind that the style of confrontation varies within the groups due to difference in perceptions about sexism societal pressures. Women who are more afraid of being identified as feminists and being tabbed as rude are less likely to confront sexism publicly. While women who wish to put an end to the problems that they face due to sexism are more likely to confront sexist remarks publicly in an attempt to change the views of advocates of sexism. This is influenced by one’s personal beliefs and motivation to react coupled with the gender of the bystanders as more women respond publicly if they are surrounded by females who do not react openly to sexist comments than if they are surrounded by males who adopt an inactive stance on sexism. The study also suggests that women often develop private dislike for sexists and their comments when they are unable to confront sexism publicly. The second study suggests that women are more likely to assume that they are capable of publicly confronting sexism than they actually are. This hypothesis is coupled wi th the assumption that women usually analyze the costs and benefits associated with their responses before actually reacting to the situation. A public confrontation is thus made when women view their reaction as polite and only if they believe that their response would not augur a strong and impolite retaliation from the people who have passed the sexist comments. In their article, Swim and Hyers conclude that most of the women in their studies have not responded as they would have liked to respond to the sexist comments that were directed at them. Women in different parts of the world face sexism in round about similar forms. However, it has recently been noticed that confronting sexism helps women more than if the decide to remain quiet and develop a private dislike towards it. Instances of confronting sexism are generally lower because women are mostly afraid to confront sexism publicly. This is mostly because they are fearful of the fact that they will be discriminated more and will become the main target of the people who they will try to confront. They therefore avoid confronting sexist remarks publicly in an attempt to prevent themselves from becoming the point of focus for the sexist comments that would come forward as a reaction to their confrontation. Women also fear confronting sexism publicly because they are unable to deal with the label of impolite and rude that is stuck with them after