The Second Sexism Discrimination Against Men and Boys

by Benatar, David

• ISBN13: 9780470674512
• ISBN10: 0470674512
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-07
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This book draws attention to the "second sexism," where it exists, how it works and what it looks like, and responds to those who would deny that it exists Challenges conventional ways of thinking Offers an academically rigorous argument in an accessible style, including the careful use of empirical data Includes examples and engages in a discussion of how sex discrimination against men and boys also undermines the cause for female equality Examines controversial issues such as sex-based affirmative action, gender roles, and charges of anti-feminism

Author Biography

David Benatar is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cape Town. He is the author of Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence (2006).

Table of Contents

Preface	p. x
Introduction	p. 1
What Is the Second Sexism?	p. 1
Disadvantage	p. 2
Discrimination	p. 3
Wrongful discrimination	p. 3
Sexism	p. 5
The First Sexism	p. 12
Two Kinds of Denialist	p. 13
Forestalling Some Fallacies	p. 16
Structure and Method of the Book	p. 18
Male Disadvantage	p. 25
Conscription and Combat	p. 26
Violence	p. 30
Corporal Punishment	p. 33
Sexual Assault	p. 36
Circumcision	p. 41
Education	p. 46
Family and Other Relationships	p. 50
Custody	p. 50
Paternity	p. 51
Paternity leave	p. 53
Homosexuals	p. 54
Bodily Privacy	p. 54
Life Expectancy	p. 57
Imprisonment and Capital Punishment	p. 59
Conclusion	p. 61
Explaining Male Disadvantage and Thinking about Sex Differences	p. 77
Beliefs about Males	p. 77
Questions about the Beliefs	p. 84
To what extent, if at all, are the beliefs true?	p. 85
What makes the beliefs true?	p. 89
What, if any, implications are there?	p. 93
Conclusion	p. 96
From Disadvantage to Wrongful Discrimination	p. 101
Conscription and Combat	p. 102
Kingsley Browne's basic argument	p. 103
"Slippage"	p. 104
Military effectiveness	p. 106
Dangers of conservatism	p. 109
Statistical differences	p. 113
Final thoughts on combat and conscription	p. 121
Violence	p. 122
"The perpetrators are men"	p. 123
"Men are better able to defend themselves"	p. 124
"Men pose a greater threat"	p. 125
Two kinds of discrimination	p. 127
Corporal Punishment	p. 128
"Males are more badly behaved"	p. 128
"Corporal punishment is not as damaging to males"	p. 129
Sexual Assault	p. 132
Circumcision	p. 134
Education	p. 135
Family and Other Relationships	p. 137
Bodily Privacy	p. 142
"Women have a greater interest in bodily privacy than do men"	p. 143
"The conditions are different"	p. 145
Equal employment opportunity	p. 148
Life Expectancy	p. 152
Imprisonment and Capital Punishment	p. 155
Conclusion	p. 163
Responding to Objections	p. 173
The Inversion Argument	p. 174
Conscription and combat	p. 175
Violence	p. 179
Circumcision	p. 182
Education	p. 183
Sexual assault	p. 185
Bodily privacy	p. 186
Custody	p. 188
Life expectancy	p. 189
Imprisonment	p. 193
The Costs-of-Dominance Argument	p. 194
The Distraction Argument	p. 199
Defining Discrimination	p. 202
Affirmative Action	p. 212
Rectifying Injustice	p. 215
The past discrimination argument	p. 216
The present discrimination argument	p. 218
Lessons from "Summers School"	p. 225
Consequentialist Arguments	p. 228
The viewpoint diversity argument	p. 228
The role-model argument	p. 229
The legitimate-sex-preference argument	p. 231
The ideal argument	p. 232
Conclusion	p. 233
Conclusion	p. 239
Does Feminism Discriminate against Men?	p. 239
Are Men Worse off than Women?	p. 246
Taking the Second Sexism Seriously	p. 254
Conclusion	p. 259
Bibliography	p. 266
Index	p. 285
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