Male Chauvinism

Annotation (2)

Male Chauvinism

The definition of Male Chauvinism is “male prejudice against women; the belief that men are superior in terms of ability, intelligence etc.”

(Oxford Dictionaries online: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/male+chauvinism)

The original definition of Chauvinism is “exaggerated or aggressive patriotism”, and its origin is from “late 19 century: named after Nicolas Chauvin, a Napoleonic veteran noted for his extreme patriotism.” So it is a word which initially used to be described the person who loves his or her country extreme passionately, almost becomes an aggressive attitude. In 1970s, it evolves into “a term particularly associated with women's liberation movement and used to attack men's attitudes towards women. It suggests blind, arrogant, excessive, and narrow-minded assumptions of innate male superiority, of male ascendancy over women, and of men's pursuit of their own collective interests.”

(Oxford Dictionaries online: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/chauvinism)

(Oxford Dictionary of Sociology: http://www.enotes.com/oxsoc-encyclopedia/male-chauvinism)

Nowadays, Male Chauvinism is still having a lot of impact on our society. Even though people gradually advocate the gender equality, there are still many cases that can be related to Male Chauvinism. For example, dramas always feature a handsome and rich male character that works as a high position in a big company, and on the other hand is a poor, or middle class and hardworking female character. There are lots of works within these typical main characters. Such as the movie “The Prince and Me”, it is a story that an ordinary girl who falls in love with an attractive young man in collage, and then she finds out he is the prince of Denmark. It perfectly conforms to the feature which I have mentioned before. Male character’s status is higher than the female character.

Or take this mother’s feeling as an example, she says that she feels strange when she receives a post from her daughter’s school, mentioned that parents should accompany their children to school for the first day of the classes. The school also says that both parents should come and if it is not possible, at least the father should come. Therefore, she calls into question “Why is the father so superior when it comes to choose between mother and father?”

(Why is Male Chauvinism so Prevalent? By K. reddy http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/860137/why_is_male_chauvinism_so_prevalent.html?cat=41)

(a) They also said that both parents should come and if it is not possible, at least the father should come. It appeared perfectly normal at first but after a bit of thinking I started to find some hidden meaning in it. At least father should come- is the only thing harassing me for the past week. Why is the father so superior when it comes to choose between mother and father?

Then she gives many examples; first, in politics, there are a few amounts of women who can have a foothold in this field until recently. Secondly, the female actors in Hollywood who performs well cannot be paid as high as the male actors. And also in the professional side such as a job, if there are equally talented man and woman, the company may prefer the man.

I think it is not a bias anymore; it becomes a habit in our society. We get used to it. People live under the Male Chauvinism. For example, women like the romance, and there are countless novels, movies, and dramas in the rich-man-poor-woman pattern. There may have some people aware of this phenomenon, such as the mother I mention before, and they may show their disapproval or anger on this issue. What they expect most is the gender equality, but it seems that now we are still living in a world dominated by the Male Chauvinism.