You can’t talk about sexism to most men

Without receiving a smile of indulgence.

Having no personal experience

Most men

Base such opinions on their own biased observations

(Or lack thereof)

Thinking sexism a thing of the past

Or that us women

Are blowing

It out of proportion.

Or, hysterical creatures such as we are,

Just use it as something of which

                To complain

                                Whine

                                                Or vie for sympathy, attention.

Rarely does one meet

A man

Intelligent,

Empathetic,

And open

Enough

To truly understand the woman’s plight.

And often,

Such a man

Must also be

A member of another oppressed group.

It seems only the oppressed

Can understand the oppression of others,

 And thus the oppressors

Continue to oppress,

And, having never known oppression themselves,

Are blind to these actions,

And oblivious to their consequences,

Never questioning

The terrible implications

Of the “small” behaviors and habits

The culture of oppression indoctrinated them into.

Never realizing

                That holding a door open for a lady,

                                Solely because of her gender,

                                Implies that she is not fit to open

Any doors,

Real or metaphorical,

On her own;

                That asking a woman’s father for her hand in marriage

                                Is devaluing her as an individual,

                                Defining her as a dependent,

                                A child,

                                Or even property;

                That referring to a woman as a girl

Is an implication of incompetence,

Inability,

Unintelligence.

Never realizing

That there is a problem

And that they

Are part of it.