Sexism

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Sexism is discrimination against people based on their sex, gender, or perceived characteristics thereof. There are more kinds of sexism than misogyny. Several kinds of sexism are obstacles in the way of activism for nonbinary recognition in particular, and of transgender rights in general.

Misogyny

Misogyny is sexist discrimination against women. Misogyny takes the form of institutional oppression, meaning that it is part of all the workings of a society. It's built into the culture, and makes trouble for women every day. This happens because a patriarchal society is based on misogyny, by definition. This kind of institutional oppression takes the form of pay inequality, difficulty in legally obtaining certain human rights (such as the ability to vote, own property, or have legal personhood), and widespread belief that sexual assault is normal. Misogyny doesn't affect all women the same, because oppressions are intersectional. Black women experience a mix of misogyny as well as racism, which is called misogynoir. Trans women experience a mixture of transphobia and misogyny, this is called transmisogyny.

Trans-misogyny

See main article about trans-misogyny.

Trans-misogyny is a form of transphobia or cissexism that is specifically directed against transgender women.

Misdirected misogyny

Some misogyny ends up doing harm even to people who don't identify as women, because others see them as being like women in some way. This can happen to nonbinary people, transgender men, and gender nonconforming cisgender people. When misogyny is used against someone who doesn't identify as a woman, then that is called misdirected misogyny. For example, if a trans man, cisgender man, or nonbinary person gets mistaken for a woman, then that person may be subjected to harassment as if they were a woman.

If someone identifies as a trans woman, then misogyny directed against her can be considered trans-misogyny, but not misdirected misogyny. Misdirected misogyny is the word for misogyny experienced by people who aren't women, whereas trans women are women.

Biological essentialism

Biological essentialism is the belief that all aspects of one's identity are tied to measurable biological traits, such as hormones, genitals, brain chemistry, etc. This worldview has been used throughout history to "prove" bigoted beliefs such as sexism, racism, and homophobia. In the context of transgender issues, biological essentialism says that the gender you were assigned at birth must be your only real gender. Sometransgender-exclusionary feminists use this to discriminate against transgender and nonbinary people.

Cissexism and transphobia

See main article: Cissexism.

Cissexism and transphobia are discrimination against transgender people. It has several forms, including binarism, which affects nonbinary people. Transgender women are affected by a combination of misogyny and transphobia, called trans-misogyny.

Dyadism

See main article: Dyadism.

Dyadism in the belief that humans are strictly dyadic, having two distinct sexes. This is used to discriminate against intersex people.

Solutions

See also: Activism and Feminism.

Feminism is a movement that seeks to fight against sexism. Though divided in how this should happen, feminists all look to fight against sexism.