With regard to views on gender, can one be a realist and not a sexist?

Question

I find that if someone describes the realities of what men and women are like, they are viewed as sexist. Of course, this is way more true when a man is being a realist about women. Denial of this will clearly show you're not a realist.
I find way too often that when someone speaks realistically about negative aspects of the opposite sex, they are pegged as sexist.
How can one be a realist and not be viewed as sexist?

Answer 1

Well, my definition of a sexist pig would be a male OR female whom makes snide remarks about the opposite sex. Maybe like when a man refers to a woman as a sl*t if she is promiscuous, but a male is the sh*t if he is promiscuous. Or when a woman refers to a man a lazy or an a**hole if he works all day long and wants to relax when he gets home instead of helping her cook, clean, etc. So, I think it is safe to say everyone has their own opinion. And sometimes we take offense to things because we are of that gender. So in someones eyes a realist will always be sexist. There is just no way around it.

Answer 2

Well, what's "realistic" for one generation, may be viewed as "sexist" by the next (the issue of women voting, for example). I do agree, tho, that nowadays the pendulum is swinging towards the side of caution and "political correctness", and asserting any differences between genders *may* get you labeled as sexist. A lot depends on what the issue is about, tho. It's become a scientific fact that men and women are different biologically; to assert this is not "sexist". But it would be sexist to label one gender as somehow "better" than the other. However, I tend to believe that if you're reasonable in your assertions, and they are grounded in verifiable reality, you would not run into trouble with intelligent well-informed people, be they male or female.

Answer 3

Negative aspects of the opposite sex is a point of view. Women who accuse men of being lazy for falling asleep after sex are ignorant of the fact that we are designed to do that. Men that say that women can't run the country because they have hormonal imbalances throughout the month are ignorant to the fact that men have a hormonal setup that makes them more likely to war monger.

In order to be sexist you have to say that one sex is better than the other. That position is rediculous as both sexes are different and excel at different things. If you say that most men are physically stronger than women, you are not being sexist. If you say that, because most men are stronger than women, men are better, then you are infact being sexist.

It's a fine line, but with a little practice anyone can walk it.

Answer 4

You are a realist if you are expressing realities...obvious ones like men have bigger muscles & women are more nurturing...or at least ideas that have some legitimate documentation backing them up like men have better spatial skills or women have better verbal skills. If you feel a constant need to point this out however I'd go with you being a little wrapped up in these differences...and maybe not fun to be around.

Answer 5

Reality is ambiguous ignorance. Sexist would be attaching negative attributes by gender. Why not look for positive qualities of character?