We know this is a stressful time, we hope that our resources are able to bring some comfort in this unstable time. We are experiencing this together!
Sexism refers to discrimination and oppression that arise specifically from the biological sex a person is assigned at birth. Sexism presents itself as a core construct and system of oppression working for the colonialism, patriarchy, cisheteronormativity, white supremacy, and religious nationalism. It shapes how society views and treat people based on the physical realities of their bodies, especially regarding reproduction organs and genitalia. Because pregnancy, childbirth, and reproductive vulnerability have historically been used as tools of control, sexism is closely tied to systems that limit bodily autonomy, such as rape, forced pregnancy, denial of reproductive care, and other forms of reproductive abuse. These patterns of harm are rooted in patriarchal beliefs that people assigned female at birth should be controlled, protected, or used in ways that serve male power or societal expectations.
Misogyny, while rooted in oppression based on assigned sex, it is different because it is a gender-based devaluation, hatred, or mistreatment of people who are perceived as women or express femininity, including many gender-queer and nonbinary people. Misogyny is about punishing or policing those who embody, express, or are associated with femininity, regardless of their biological sex, often due to toxic-masculine beliefs that are rooted in grabbing at social power by oppressing and harming others. Misogyny functions as the emotional, cultural, and violent enforcement arm of patriarchy; it reinforces the idea that femininity is inferior and that people who are “read” as women should be controlled or subordinated.
The workforce didn't fully accept women until 1945 (world war 2), and are still facing disproportionate wages to their male counterparts without adequate protections against sexual assault, sexual harassment, general sexism in the workplace, no protections for pregnancy and medical leave, and generally hire AFAB people and women based on their appearance and attractiveness rather than their capability, experience, and ethics.
Historically in societies under colonization, the way you were raised, the color of your sheets, the job you had (or weren't allowed to have), and the life you were allowed to lead as a whole, was all determined by your sex. Sex, as a form of identity, has often taken the name of gender as well; however, gender is a construct that relies on assigning itself to your assigned-at-birth-sex. Now this can get tricky to understand, but it's often easiest when we fully separate sexual (sex-assigned-at-birth) and gender (how one expresses oneself) identities. That doesn't mean that the two groups don't heavily overlap, it just means that they are inherently separate and are applied differently to our lives. To live life in any physical body comes with a lot of nuances and differences in that experience in comparison to others, and to flatten that experience based on an incorrectly held societal definition of a biological sex binary, does no service to the truth of human diversity.
The constructs of gender impact both AMAB and AFAB people in society via enforcement via patriarchy, but there is a need to highlight not just the historic rates of violence against AFAB people across society but to particularly hold space for the context of the weaponization of our own reproductive system against us in the context of sexual assault, pregnancy, and access to reproductive healthcare.
Society creates these gender roles for us to play into, and with enforcement via the power structures inherent to patriarchy, both AFAB folks and many groups within LGBTQ+ circles who are seen by many to be 'queering' from 'traditional values' (Christian heteronormative monogamy), are often active participants as reinforcers of the harms of gender roles.
AFAB: Assigned Female At Birth, this is a term that is includes the majority of women who identify as cisgender women, transgender men, and non-binary folks, who are effected by the ownership of a 'traditionally' female body at birth. Traditional reproductive organs including but not limited to: Vagina, Cervix, Uterus, Ovaries, etc.
AMAB: Assigned Male At Birth, this is a term that includes the majority of men who identify as cisgender men, transgender women, and non-binary folks, who are effected by the ownership of a traditionally male body at birth. Genitalia including but not limited to: Prostate, Penis, Testes, Vas deferens, etc.
Intersex: There are also individuals who are intersex- and have a mixture of traditional sex characteristics; a percent of the population are born this way and some never find out. Intersex individuals have the right to live in their bodies however, and in whatever identity that they feel is right. As we briefly mentioned, many people have a slight variation and never find out they are intersex, due to the standard of assigning people to an oversimplified binary when deciding someone's sex based on developing body parts.
Many ethnic groups experience forced labor, but AFAB bodies have taken on the brunt of traditionally submissive roles in a completely different category of work. Even in each of these separate groups, AFAB bodies have traditionally taken on the brunt of home-making labor, childbirth-labor, motherhood, and running the household 24/7. Many women were also tasked with maintaining the homestead if their partner/husband was away at work.
Most stay at home moms who do all of the house work and raising of the children, including childbirth-labor, could cost up to $400,000/yr.
Often times we see AFAB bodies represented as sexual objects for traditional male pleasure. Because of this, many advertisements & marketing attempts are based on selling sex.
While selling sex isn't bad, selling false ideals of sex to young men & women, makes a very difficult sexist environment for women and AFAB people in society.
Laws and regulations -especially around sex industries- reflect this sexism.
The use of 'femininity' 's definition has been manipulated to define now the more traditional jobs, behavior, and lifestyle of females/women -more specifically in a submissive role typically to a man.
However... femininity is really anything an AFAB person decides is part of who they are. So the parts of us that make us strong, courageous, brave, gentle, loving, mean, angry, etc. Anything that is park of your experience of a Female Body/ Woman Experience is a part of femininity in its truer meaning.
This includes trans women and their experiences learning femininity in its true meaning.
The use of idealistic femininity can be detrimental to our health, by idolization of bodies, experiences, and lives, than none of us can truly attain.
Politeness culture is often shown to us as simply, “good behavior,” but it operates as a socially constructed system that manages conflict, emotion, and communication in ways that position unbalanced and underlying power dynamics. Its rules are rarely neutral, as we know the word crime can be weaponized to describe actions in a shallow way. They emerge from collective pressures to protect the comfort of those who benefit most from existing social structures, and they shape who is allowed to speak, how they must speak, and what kinds of truths are considered acceptable. Politeness culture tends to prioritize image and perception over substance and experience. It doesn’t just encourage kindness; it prescribes a narrow emotional range (seemingly articulated, presenting calm, socially submissive) and labels anything outside it as disruptive. This may create a false sense of peace, but it can also suppress necessary expressions of frustration, boundary-setting, confrontation, or appropriate restorative justice. This repression of expressed emotions can greatly impact someone's mental health and their self image and identities. Those with little-to-no institutional or social power often bear the greatest burden: they are expected to manage not only their own emotions but also the reactions of those who might feel challenged by their words. Meanwhile, people who hold power are rarely asked to soften their tone or restructure their communication for the sake of others.
This dynamic shows up in workplaces that punish direct feedback as “unprofessional,” in institutions that code discomfort as disrespect. It also shows up in everyday interactions where marginalized people are told to “calm down,” “be nice,” or “say it a different way,” before their concerns can even be acknowledged. These forms of tone policing shift attention away from the content of a message and toward its delivery, allowing the underlying issues (often related to inequity or danger/harm) to remain unaddressed. Recognizing politeness culture as a social construct doesn’t require rejecting courtesy or empathy. Instead, it invites a shift in what we value in communication: honesty over appeasement, accountability over comfort, and mutual respect over one-sided emotional labor. By rethinking these norms, we create space that is safe for conversations that are truthful, equitable, and genuinely human.
Beauty standards are shaped by systems of power, especially patriarchy and white supremacy culture, and they continue to influence how people move through the world. Patriarchy sets the tone for what kinds of bodies and behaviors are rewarded, often centering women’s (or AFAB person's) value around appearance and compliance sith social norms set forth by the patriarchy. Ideals like thinness, youthfulness, and sexual attractiveness don’t arise organically, they reflect what a patriarchal society wants from women: to be pleasing, non-threatening, and constantly self-monitoring/policing of self and others. These pressures keep people focused on correcting themselves and others rather than questioning the structures that create the insecurity or need in the first place.White supremacy culture also plays a major role by positioning Eurocentric features as the baseline for what is considered beautiful. Lighter skin, straighter hair, blue eyes, and narrower facial features have historically been treated as more “professional,” “refined,” or “desirable.” These standards didn’t just appear; they were reinforced through media, policy, and social norms that rewarded proximity to whiteness and penalized those who didn’t fit the mold. For many people of color, the result has been a long history of being encouraged or required, to change their natural features to gain acceptance or simply to be treated fairly. Both systems operate quietly but powerfully. They shape everything from hiring practices to dating dynamics to who is represented positively in our media. They also drive massive industries built on the promise of self-improvement, profiting from the insecurities these standards create. Understanding how these forces work doesn’t mean rejecting beauty altogether; it means recognizing that the ideals we inherit aren’t neutral. When we see how they function, we’re better equipped to challenge them and to make space for definitions of beauty that reflect real people, real cultures, and real bodies rather than hierarchies of gender and race.
Sydney Sweeney: American Eagle Advertisment
An Example of how racism and eugenics are at the forefront of the beauty and fashion industry. The advert has been compared to nazi style advertisements, and eugenics propaganda from World War I and World War II.
Patriarchy is a social and political system of oppression in which men, masculinity, and traditionally male roles hold primary power, authority, and privilege over women, non-binary people, and anyone who does not conform to norms of dominant (toxic) masculinity. It operates through institutions such as: government, law and justice system, religion, and the ideal cisheteronormative family. There are many cultural narratives, and everyday practices that collectively replicate and uphold male dominance/leadership and normalize gender roles. The direct effects of patriarchy include the inequitable distribution of power and resources between cisgender males and AFAB and feminine presenting people. Our political representation favors men, there are large gender/sex-based pay gaps, and limited access to leadership roles for non-men. The patriarchy also causes social expectations that prescribe rigid gender roles that confine women to caregiving and domestic labor while simultaneously rewarding men for dominance, independence, and emotional restriction. Patriarchy directly affects bodily autonomy (often AFAB) through the policing of women’s and queer people’s sexuality, reproductive choices, and access to safety. It also produces cultural norms that marginalize LGBTQIA2S+ identities, stigmatize non-traditional relationship structures, and frame masculinity and heterosexuality as the default standards.
Roe v. Wade: The Right to Medical Privacy and Protected Access to Abortion
In 1972, Roe v. Wade was codified into law, protecting a women's (AFAB person's) right to choose when it came to their abortion rights. This also upheld legislation that protected the right privacy around medical decisions, establishing a stronger basis to form HIPPA in 1996. All of it rides on the back on try to control women as a whole, and their reproductive health. It is not to go without mentioning that Black women took the brunt of this fight, as they were the most underserved community when it came to proper healthcare, and advocation for their autonomy/ consent. Many Black women were sterilized/ raped/ experimented on in the begining of OBGYN fields deciding to discuss the female anatomy. So it's important that we recognize the unseen backbone and unheard voices in the movement for women's and AFAB people's right to choose, have medical privacy, and their consent. Roe v. Wade was Overturned on June 24, 2022, by the (Right-Wing, Trump-Appointed) Supreme Court (SCOTUS) leaving thousands of AFAB people without adequate healthcare access and to carrying unwanted pregnancies; hundreds to endure unneccesary suffering, pain, and loss of fertility; and 59 confirmed cases where women/AFAB people died due to their lack-of-access to live-saving care. Prior to Roe v. Wade you could have an abortion or DNC for specific conditions and threat to the life of the mother; however, in its overturn, states began to restrict access and enforce criminality of abortion. Several doctors have gone to jail or held/investigated by police due to their participation in ensuring AFAB people don't die from lack of prenatal and maternal healthcare.
Also check out our Femininity and Masculinity page for more information on gender binaries and how these social systems impact everybody's way of life.
Imagine you identify as female and live in the UK in 2018, you've just been hired by a professional services firm and today you walk into your training event, first day on the job, you are handed a score sheet, just like the one to the left. You are taken back a little, but you try to justify it and give these people the benefit of the doubt, until... you start to notice some things these employers want your scores on, especially when you realize the score sheet is grading your characteristics and forming gender bias based on those scores. This article specificly, talks about confirmation bias, where the outcomes do reflect the community of which they surveyed. Its the strength of these stereotypes, fueled by marketing and social systems of gender binaries, that complete the forced nature of our need to fit in to society. Thus adding to the sexism AFAB and Intersex people face, on the basis of presentation of bodily features and behavior.
What is the Patriarchy?
Well Patriarch is another name for king, or specifically male head of household. This is the dominant form of systems across the world. Kings have rules over many different lands for centuries, and pride their control over women and young girls. It's important to remember that many systems uphold the social system of patriarchy and it should be something you look out for.
We saw women enter the workforce and into leadership positions around 1960, but women are still not pair equal wages for their work. Many community groups and religious groups will have similar systems in the ways in which they function.
What is a Matriarchy?
A Matriarchy is the inverse of the Patriarchy, in which women are held above and in leadership positions more often than their male counterparts. Many matriarchal societies have keep themselves secluded, and have to avoid these strong social systems in place. Many of these groups do not exist any more, or are only beginning to re-emerge with the consciousness of equitable parts of a healthy home maintaining relationship.
While there is much to be explored when it comes to the strength of a matriarchy, many focus on the equality and equitability of men and women together.
Gender in itself is a construct of our long standing history in humanity. While we have seen a correlation with gender identity and sexual organs in humans for our history on this planet; there still well-known evidence that humans have always had people who don't identify within their sex given at birth. Being that it is a construct and system that most of our societies have upheld and idolized for its sexual and manipulative nature. Defining Gender as a system means that it has more than the barest of definitions; this system functions on the perception of the self and the people around you. Women and men are given a chance at life all the same, but we all know the creative differences between the ways we parents and instruct younger girls in comparison to boys. This all comes down to the ways each gender perceives themselves, and the other identities around them. Many men are compelled to not show emotion or compassion for others as a way of gaining strength; however, this is a self-harm tactic that most men have learned from those around them and older than them.
When we begin to reframe our experiences surrounding gender, we are merely looking at a the same image with different glasses. While a person may be a person and without identification they remain genderless; however, the moment I tell you she is here or he is there, a completely new perception of the interaction is taking place. This is one of many ways that the way we have made gender a system in our everyday lives. Exploring the understanding of any of our genders, is to go beyond anything our sex at birth might convey. Our gender expression is that of what we have been manipulated over the years to be what it is today. This doesn't mean that your expression is incorrect it just means a lot of interactions helped you form that expression. The different groups of people out there today believe the gender expression somehow infringes on the lives around the person expressing their gender differently, while it has no real impact on those around them. Many people of stereotypical gender expression have experienced several times where the impression of their expression gave someone else a false impression of who they were based on stereotyping. This means that gender is a system that serves very few people in the bigger institutions of modern day capitalism which typically consist of rich white males.
Gender can be expressed on a spectrum of femininity and masculinity, but at the basis of breaking down gender norms and constructs we have freedom of expression. There may be a gender attached to someone's identity but you can act, dress, and be whomeever you want in this world. Of course this sounds a lot more glamourous than it may be in reality.
Due to the high range of hate crimes that occur every day surrounding gender and sexual orientation, it has been very important for everyone who is queer in some way to be careful about who they share that information with. It can be dangerous for some of us to share our identifying factors with others. Calling our Significant Others or Family Members: "Partner", "Spouse", "Significant Other", "Sibling", "Pal", (etc.) and other non-gendered specific names can ensure a bit of extra safety. However those who are most inquisitive of these kinds of things may inquire deeper; this is why we encourage our allies to discuss their non-queer relationships and non-queers familiy members in the same way. This has completely destigmatized the word "Partner," and "Spouse," allowing for many more queer individuals to discuss their partners in safety at work or in public.
First we must understand what kind of systems we are looking at?
Patriarchy has been founded on the preconceived notion to sex differences at birth and assumed placement in breeding or procreation for future generations, and the assumed placement of a labor source or provider. While this notion has been getting very old by this time, we have let it up hold several households and leave many spending years in emotional aguish over their true wants and the systems' need to stay alive. If men are home bodies who take care of the young, as their female partner have a larger coporate jobs that provide for the family you are actively breaking this norm. However, don't misguide your sense of praise for breaking away from the norm. The praise goes to those who also teach their children not to rely on a specific sex or gender to provide for emotional needs etc. There is a lot in this world that caters to the male ideology, but in many ways it dis-serves the male population the most by inappropriate expectations and emotional strangulation. This does not negate that the tole the Patriarchy has put on AFAB people and/or women is unattainable by most, and has caused death, abuse, and manipulation in the name of gender superiority. Sexual domination has always been apart of this historical fantasy, but the patriarchy uses this assumed domination to abuse and silence women all the time. Rape and abuse culture is an egregous act and it's important that we take the energy to deal with our biggest predators in the community.
However our systems journey does not lead us just to Patriarchal Systems, but also Racist Systems that further upheld the white male agenda for power and profits. We saw this throughout the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Fugitive Slave Laws, Emancipation Proclamation, and Jim Crow Laws that have only evolved in their ability to access black communities and gerrymander their counties. Racism has many different ways of manifesting itself in the psychology of white individuals. Racism is something every white person faces, because our environment inherently works for us. It makes sure that we are safe; instead of fearing us and therefore endangering us. Racism and Slavery gave white men with power the ability to control and manipulate the ways in which voting and many other forms of freedom were withheld. Black Communities have faced the most extreme of attacks in our nation's history. It's our job as people today to combat our learned racism and other social systems, so that people can be in this place of freedom with the feeling of actually feeling safe, protected, and free to do so as they please (with reason).
Throughout European colonial history people believed that there are two genders, man and women. Gender is a societal construct that allows it only to exist as well as people choose to believe in it, and follow patriarchal values. The belief that there are only two genders, directly stems from the misheld belief that there are only two sexes. Even though there are two ends of the biological sex spectrum, it doesn't mean that there is not an array of biological expressions in between. While sex is never a determination of gender, biological sex can greatly impact the way we interact with the construct of gender, and aspects of self expression. It's important that we keep in mind the ways that people are forced into gender roles, and gender norms, without their consent by their society and community. However, that doesn't mean that sex=gender, and gender should never be a glorification of sexual biology over self expression. When anyone is expressing themselves genuinely, gender is not really present. Gender is a gaze and construct assigned to a type of expression. Even our descriptor words for these things are not exclusive to gender, such as: 'feminine', 'masculine', 'beautiful', 'handsome'. In fact the social gendering of these words is done through societal constructs being replicated and upheld. For many people, fully deconstructing gender can be a hard mental task- especially when we believe so much of our identity is assigned to gender; however, the fact remains that from a biological, neurological, and gender studies perspective, you are without gender right now, other than what society has assigned to you based on your visible sex characteristics. (eg. hair growth patterns, breasts and genitalia, etc)
While we should never be trying to attain an expressed identity that we don't want to have, that doesn't mean it is bad to want to express yourself stereotypically. Anyone can think that any expression is pretty, beautiful, flattering, etc. without it being in or outside of the stereotypical gender norms. The reason for getting rid of the construct of gender, is that nothing is specifically one way or another, that also means that what we consider stereotypically feminine can be comfortable and feminine to anyone outside of that construct as well. The same goes for the stereotypical masculine, feeling true masculine to some. Now this doesn't mean that we continue to uphold gendered systems and structures through our policing of others expression. The freedom to choose what these words and identities mean to you, is the deconstruction of gender.
Society creates these gender roles for us to play into, and with enforcement via the power structures inherent to colonial, patriarchal capitalism. While we frequently discuss the harms of men and cis-hetero individuals in general under patriarchy, both AFAB folks and many groups within LGBTQIA2S+ circles who are seen by many to be 'queering' from 'traditional values' (Christian heteronormative monogamy), are often active participants as reinforcers of the harms of gender roles, against both AFAB and AMAB individuals.
This can look like 'toxic masculinity' and 'toxic femininity' (internalized sexism) in action, with people acting out patterns of gendered behavior against each other; for example, a transmasculine individual recreating harmful toxic masculine dynamics such as refusing to participate with household tasks that have a feminine association under patriarchy, such as cooking or cleaning, or a woman attempting to gain power in a space by playing into standard femininity to appeal to existing male-dominated power structures or by attempting to recreate those power structures by acting as a "girlboss", which actually usually ends up modeling 'authority' off of toxic masculine behaviors such as domination and aggression. As a further example, transfeminine people can sometimes tend to lean into either toxic feminine or masculine behaviors as a way to attempt to reclaim power under patriarchy that is stripped from them when they reject their masculine assigned gender at birth. Some cishet men will also perform femininity in order to gain appeal/power with women/in queer spaces for personal or particularly sexual gain. On the flip-side, many men like to use the way that we all can tend to play into patriarchy in these ways as justification for the continuation of it, and even as a inlet for them to blame non-men and queer individuals for its existence in the first place.
This article discussses womens role in the economy over time, nationally. the graphs below show different ethnicities of women and their participation in the labor force over time, begining in 1930 and ending in 2020. as you can see, women did not have many oportunities in the work force until about the mid/late 1950s. Though this article makes sure to point out that the womens workforce was negatively affected by their husbands income until the mid 20th century, the more he made, the less she made.
We hope that we can foster a conversation where the act of sex itself is not sexualized. It is vital that we are able to come together as a species, across both sexes, to understand that sexual activity has historically not always been pleasurable for everyone involved, and the force of birthing and sex on females, has created a generational shift in how one may view sexual activity. When coming at these conversations from a scientific perspective, we have to remain aware that these are functions of our bodies, and for some the lack of function or ability is really difficult to manage. The more we have educated conversations on these topics, the less scared or stigmatizing it will be to experience them. We all have these bodies, yet we still want to live in a world where we pretend we don't know. There is nothing that should be forcibly hidden from the rest of the world, especially if it is about the state of our bodies or lives, we are here on Earth to wittness one another. We should curate a society where there is no justification for unconsensual actions that comes from ever mistaking another human's state of being as 'promiscuity', for that is a grave dishonor to our own species. Promiscuity itself, is a word that should have never needed to exist, only used to describe a women's presentation from a horrendous man's perspective.
Another example, being able to discuss an orgasm and how they can occur for/in different bodies, without sexualizing the conversation, is imperative for us to have a framework and move through discussing the ways pleasure can occur with another person, without creating unnecessary pressure or being uneducated about potential needs.
There are many groups of people who do not experience, or define, sexual pleasure in the ways typical society may; and beyond their ability for such, they carry entire lives with them still. We often forget about people's traumas (old or new), and that emotional, physical, or mental these traumas stay with us, changing in the soft ways they might, but they never go away. We have to keep in mind that outside of ability or want, all bodies experience orgasm and pleasure differently in the physical form. This along, with the complexity of different genitalia potentially needing different stimulation to achieve pleasure, can influence the series of actions so that sexual acts are only pleasurable for one person at a time.
From a neurological perspective, we have to keep in mind that sexual pleasure and sexual desires have always lived in the part of the brain responsible for fight or flight, and our adrenaline centers, which means for those who've experienced a lot of their life in severe fight or flight, sexual activities may be a different experience. It is often that people experience intense emotional releases when they experience sexual pleasure, which is something that we as a society should be foster more in conversation.
Many groups of people experience their pleasure in different ways depending on how sexual activities have occured in their lives, and how it affects them. We know that 1 in 6 women have been assaulted, so we understand that there may be direct trauma associated with the act of sex, and sexual pleasure. The act of sexual reproduction for the intention of birth can also bring it's own from of trauma for many people. Experiencing a misscarriage or loss of a child, is a life-changing experience, one that may temporarily or long-term affect the people who are in that relationship. For parents going through infertility, the act of sexual activity can become associated with negative emotions rather than positive ones. That does not mean that sexual activity isn't pleasurable for people in this situation, but that the pleasure is not being done for the act of pleasure, but to lead to a child.
"Women contribute trillions of dollars to the economy each day in paid and unpaid labor"
Gender Equality improves the economy:
"The World Economic Forum expects that it will now take more than 130 years to close gender gaps worldwide, up from about 100 years before the pandemic. " -https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/09/27/sp092722-ggopinath-kgef-gender-korea -
Began before Roe. v. Wade's Overturn, Jessica Valenti is dedicated to the informing of everyday parents and women, that the world is trying to constrict our access to care and the quality if any, that it provides. The information she is putting together is a consistent understanding of abortion & maternal care rights across the country, and informing people in how it is ever-changing.
Her emails are free from Substack, and the more people that support her, the more she is able to continue doing her work.
If you would like to help us write about commonly silenced areas or personal experiences you may have with these topics, contact us at thisisactivism2023@gmail.com or fill out our Comments page. We want our website to be a continuous growth of knowledge to share with each other in a positive way. There are so many things we don't talk about and we should!
If you would like to help us write about commonly silenced areas or personal experiences you may have with these topics, contact us at thisisactivism2023@gmail.com or fill out our Comments page. We want our website to be a continuous growth of knowledge to share with each other in a positive way. There are so many things we don't talk about and we should!