Benevolent sexism as a mean to maintain social inequalities between the genders

Abstract

The idea that sexism could be expressed under the appearance of benevolence might be surprising. Indeed, the representation we usually have of a sexist person is of a man who exhibits hostile attitudes toward women. The aim of this article is to describe a more subtle form of sexism, namely, benevolent sexism. This refers to subjectively positive attitudes tainted with chivalry and condescendence. We want to highlight the need to take into account this insidious form of sexism in the understanding of gender relationships and to demonstrate that, despite its innocuous appearance, it is nevertheless a process that maintains social inequalities between men and women. Copyright © Nec Plus / Université Paris Descartes 2012.