The problem is not sexism, it’s patriarchy
Or: the problem is not racism, it’s white supremacy
We must realize that gender is an identity which is based on nature, but not in itself natural. But that doesn’t mean we can simply dismiss gender as “not real”: because it’s ideological it’s more real than if it were merely natural.
Sexism is defined as discrimination based on sex. So the first thing wrong with this definition is that we don’t interact with people based on their anatomical sex, we interact with them based on gender. But ok, even if we call it “Genderism” it still misses the point because it doesn’t describe the specific way in which women are oppressed.
So without an analysis of the particular system of oppression women face, feminists are then reduced to simply pointing out differences in gender and saying “this is oppression”, which doesn’t always work. Also, men can easily turn it around and say, hey, men are more likely to die in wars, that’s oppression too, so it kinda evens out.
But arguably the worst result of this abstract definition of sexism is a kind of censorship we impose on ourselves, where we are afraid to even acknowledge gender difference, because doing so already implies a discrimination based on sex. In a hypocritical way, we are only allowed to talk about gender difference when it is at the expense of men, never women. Such hypocrisy and censorship have unfortunately proven to be a breeding ground for privately held patriarchal views.
Just like not being able to criticize Israel can be a breeding ground for antisemitism. Speaking of Jews, imagine if we were to replace the word “antisemitism” with “religion-based discrimination”, or “religionism”. Immediately it’s clear that such a neutral, abstract way of putting it actually diminishes the violence done to the Jewish people. It would dangerously obscure the reason for the particular violence Jews have suffered by lumping it together with other religion-based violence.
The same exact thing goes for the term racism. When talking about Black people in America we should always use the term white supremacy or anti-blackness. Because again, simply using the word racism bypasses the particular history and the particular grievance Black people have with America. You could easily imagine a white liberal saying “end racism!”, but then opposing reparations, because if the government writes a check based on people’s race, isn’t that racist?
