Sexism is commonly considered to be discrimination and/or hatred against people based on their sex rather than their individual merits, but can also refer to any and all systemic differentiations based on the sex of the individuals.
Sexism can refer to subtly different beliefs or attitudes:
- The belief that one gender or sex is inferior to or more valuable than the other;
- Female or male chauvinism
- The attitude of misogyny (hatred of females) or misandry (hatred of males); as well as
- The attitude of imposing a limited and/or false notion of masculinity on males and a limited and/or false notion of femininity on females, or vice versa.
- A feeling of distrust towards the opposite or same sex, most frequently operating at unconscious level.
