Reverse Sexism

The concept of reverse sexism, an idea developed in the late twentieth century and most frequently articulated by men, asserts that feminism has generated discourses and practices that disadvantage men. Because these discourses and practices have been grounded in a belief that traditional notions of masculinity are to blame for a range of legal, social, political, cultural, and sexual inequities in the United States, public debates about reverse sexism have focused on the position of men and the meaning of manhood in American life.

In the late 1960s the advent of second-wave feminism in the United States generated an often strident critique of patriarchy and the development of a strongly antipatriarchal body of theory and discourse. In its most extreme forms this discourse suggested that men were, by their very nature, aggressive oppressors, and that ideals of masculinity were to blame for the oppression of women. The more moderate theories underlying reverse sexism argued that masculinity was a social and cultural construction that had been developed by men to justify their power over women, and that conventional power structures and notions of manhood should be revised in order to create a more equitable political, social, economic, and legal system in the United States.

The 1970s saw feminism-driven legal reforms involving pay levels, housework, divorce, and custody, and many men began arguing that women were actually being given unfair preference. Some of these men sought legal acknowledgement that they were discriminated against. As a variety of men's movements and organizations began publicizing the issue and seeking legal remedies during the 1970s and 1980s, the idea of reverse sexism—like that of reverse discrimination more broadly—gained increasing currency.

Legal actions involving claims and incidents of reverse sexism increased during the late twentieth century. During the 1990s more than two hundred men in the United States filed sexual harassment charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and 14 percent of the federal workers in the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board reported such harassment. The legal issues associated with reverse sexism also became visible in the mass media. The film Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), for example, highlighted apparent discrimination against men as parents, and the film Disclosure (1994) demonstrated that men were subject to sexist advances in the workplace—and that they could seek legal redress.

Reverse sexist rhetoric and imagery often took the form of what its critics called “male-bashing.” It defined masculinity in terms of the negative characteristics often associated with it— violence, hypersexuality, excessive absorption in work, insensitivity to women's needs, and alienation from domestic life—though its proponents differed over whether these characteristics were the result of socialization or were inherent to maleness. In popular culture, this trend fueled reverse-sexist humor from sources ranging from Hallmark cards (“Men are scum. Excuse me. For a second there I was feeling generous.”) to comedian Joan Rivers (“Want to know why women don't blink during foreplay? Not enough time.”). A popular 1980s television advertisement for Folger's coffee depicted a husband unable to prepare breakfast for his wife until a package of coffee fell out of a pantry, literally at his feet. A flyer published in 1994 by the Women's Issues Advocate of the Office for Women's Issues at the University of Southern California, stating that “There are no good men,” caused a considerable furor.

...