Sexism

Social Issue of the day.  Sexism.  For those that do not know what Sexism is, here is a helpful definition.  According to the Merriam Webster dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sexism), "Sexism is unfair treatment of people based on their sex".  Ironically, the online version adds "especially unfair treatment of women".  Now let me preface this by saying that yes, I am a man.  And yes, I totally agree that society has traditionally placed men in a position of power and women have historically been marginalized by the male population.  I will also agree that today women are still marginalized by sexism in both social and professional environments.  However, I find that added definition sexist.  Sexism, much like Racism, should not be exclusively tied to one group of people.  How are we supposed to fight such unfair views if we make the terms unfair? 

Can you argue that a women claiming "all men are pigs" isn't sexist?  Or can you argue that a men saying "all women are hens" is somehow more sexist because sexism against women is more prevalent?  How come it is still socially acceptable (though not legally acceptable everyone) for a woman to hit a man?  Because it is assumed that he can take it?  There are obvious unfair gender roles in our society that affect the way we think and act but please understand that it is unfair to both genders and not just women.  Men suffer from sexism to.  In fact, established gender roles make it socially unacceptable for a man to claim that they are a victim of sexism.  How is that fair?  When a man claims that he is a victim of sexism, what do you automatically think of him?  Does he become less of a man in your eyes?  Does he seem weaker, sadder, less than he was before? 

How about when a man claims to have been raped by a women, what is our reaction?  Do we take him seriously?  Some people claim that it isn't physically possible, others that it isn't possible because men are horn dogs.  What the hell?  It is definitely possible and does happen.  Many instances of men being forced into sex with women against their will are played in media as jokes.  Just look at "The Pineapple Incident" in How I Met Your Mother, Old School, 40 Day sand 40 Nights, and Get Him To The Greek.  Today's culture paints men as the ones giving the sex and women as the ones receiving.  The very legal definition of rape, "The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim" was only updated in 2012 from "the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will"(http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/09/living/chris-brown-female-on-male-rape/).

I am in no way trying to take away from the plight of women.  I fully understand and support the struggle for equality and for a voice to the female population.  I am simply asking for just that, an equal voice for everyone.  And I am not blaming women either.  I am blaming the culture that we live in, the culture that men created.  A society where a women can dress as a man and be called strong but a man dressed as a women is called weak.  Where a man that stands up and says he was raped is seen as less than a man.  What kind of a society is this, where the worst thing you can call a man is a woman?  Where if he is victimized, he is doubted, laughed at, and if believed, he is no longer a man?  I fully support women's rights and the fight for equality, but I argue that both men and women (or women and men if you prefer) have voices in that movement.  Men also suffer from sexism and a man's world.