Sexism -- what should the term mean?

[linda_mccabe]

In replying to Judy Serenity's request for a term to describe the 
mistreatment of women.  Jumping in here and admitting I haven't read 
all the previous posts...I think the word you may be looking for is 
misogyny.  It's a much tougher word than merely sexism, but it 
describes actions to actively suppress and oppress women.  It's 
generally thought of as being inherently violent.  And part of the 
culture in the oppression of a class of people is the ever present 
threat of violence.  Those that stray out of their prescribed roles 
are accused of not "knowing their place."  And that leads to hate 
crimes.  This is a quick and dirty synopsis of my explanation of 
gender-based hate crimes.  In a nutshell, these following crimes 
should be considered hate crimes against women:

gang rapes
serial rapes
serial murders of girls and women

Basically any crime where the victim is targeted because of their 
status.  And those crimes I mentioned above are done when a girl or 
woman is attacked simply because she was born female.  It impacts 
every woman who realizes that she is also vulnerable because she 
lives in a world that encourages rape in males to keep women in a 
submissive position.

And for those who find that hard to swallow.  I submit that the 
commonplace occurence of gang rapes shows that I am correct.  For if 
it were a cultural aberration, then it would be very difficult for a 
group of five guys to hold a woman down.  Instead the other four 
guys would be holding the one cretin back.  If rape were culturally 
unacceptable, it would be as common as cannibalism.

'nuff said for now.

Athena.