# Is sexism stronger than racism in America? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 20, 2026, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848 "2026-02-20T13:43:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/21 "2026-02-20T18:50:15Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > One reason I think racism is (and will be) harder to mitigate than sexism is that most White males have close connections to one (or more) women–wife, daughter, etc. And therefore, a vested interest in women being free from discrimination. Soooo, we women should be grateful to accept the gift of equality from white men? Golly gee, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/22 "2026-02-20T18:52:19Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Soooo, we women should be grateful to accept the gift of equality from white men? Golly gee, thanks! I’m not sure how you got that from what I wrote. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/23 "2026-02-20T18:52:40Z")
Not a gift. A long overdue debt still owed. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/24 "2026-02-20T18:53:57Z")
This. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/25 "2026-02-20T19:28:45Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > One reason I think racism is (and will be) harder to mitigate than sexism is that most White males have close connections to one (or more) women–wife, daughter, etc. And therefore, a vested interest in women being free from discrimination. Agree w your premise. But not your conclusion. Many white men have a vested interest in keeping their closely connected women down just as much as they do for random “all other women”. In some cases more. For sure there are men bright enough to realize that having the world oppress their daughter or wife isn’t to their own personal advantage. But not every man is that bright. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/26 "2026-02-20T19:53:07Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > One reason I think racism is (and will be) harder to mitigate than sexism is that most White males have close connections to one (or more) women–wife, daughter, etc. Sounds logical, but every man who has ever lived has had a “close connection” with one or more women for all the reasons you mentioned, but that hasn’t prevented sexism from dominating world wide since time immemorial. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/27 "2026-02-20T19:55:38Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What white woman would you have selected to replace him? I’m speaking in general. Hillary Clinton was a far better choice for a myriad of reasons, but Donald Trump was elected handily. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/28 "2026-02-20T19:59:22Z")
I agree. It was “Any excuse to dismiss her, and every excuse to promote him”. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/29 "2026-02-20T19:59:40Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Soooo, we women should be grateful to accept the gift of equality from white men? Golly gee, thanks! Don’t forget white men also invented air guitar and beer hats. I’m still not sure which is our biggest accomlishment. that stuff or curing polio. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/30 "2026-02-20T20:00:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Not a gift. A long overdue debt still owed. Yeah. Not enough men see it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/31 "2026-02-20T20:03:13Z")
I refuse to excuse those sexist idiots. The time for polite discourse is in the past. The _ancient_ past. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/32 "2026-02-20T20:05:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > But not every man is that bright. Of course not. If that were so, progress would be faster. But there’s no denying that there has been progress over time. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/33 "2026-02-20T20:08:49Z")
I think another factor is that women are 51% of America while racial minorities are around 37-40%, so it is slightly harder, inherently, to discriminate against women since they are a bigger chunk of society. Of course, that might change in the future as America becomes increasingly non-white. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/34 "2026-02-20T20:18:04Z")
Another place where sexism is on the rise is the U.S. Military. [Women In The U.S. Military Face A New Backlash After Hard-Won Progress](https://www.forbes.com/sites/sophianelson/2025/11/16/women-in-the-us-military-face-a-new-backlash-after-hard-won-progress/) ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/35 "2026-02-20T21:56:28Z")
I agree with Michelle Obama who recently said that this country is not yet ready for a woman as President. The Democratic Party does not seem to understand this. They will nominate a woman to be their presidential candidate again next time. Or the VP. At that moment they will have lost their chance of regaining the White House. Without the campain even starting. Not my sexisim, just the way the US works. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/36 "2026-02-20T22:04:53Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Not my sexisim, just the way the US works. And yet your post comes off as prescriptive (as if it were an immutable fact), rather than descriptive (and thus subject to the whims of the populace). ETA: And seriously… if the Democratic Party does what it did to win in 2020 (nominate a woman VP) it will have lost the election??? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/37 "2026-02-20T22:08:34Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > I think racism against Black Americans leads to far worse outcomes for individuals affected by it, than sexism does for women. As someone who’s been steeped for ten years in concrete examples of the worst things done in the name of mysogyny, I find it hard to agree. The _average_ American woman is probably doing okay, but there’s a significant population of women in very vulnerable situations who are really not okay. I could give you horrifying real-life examples, but I won’t, because they aren’t my story to tell. But there are shocking levels of brutality, captivity, sexual exploitation and humiliation that are, for many women, just every day life. We see them every day, and there is no shortage of them, and at least locally we’ve seen a significant increase in the severity and lethality of violence against women. We’ve seen this increase in need concurrent with what I can only describe as a catastrophic loss of funding. By this time next year, nationwide, you should expect to see a 50% reduction in victim service providers. I’m not pitting one kind of discrimination against another. That seems like a losing game. But I don’t want anyone to lose sight of what’s actually happening to women. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/38 "2026-02-20T22:17:41Z")
I don’t know which is worse in America, it is both irredeemably racist and irredeemably misogynist. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/39 "2026-02-20T22:29:55Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > The _average_ American woman is probably doing okay, but there’s a significant population of women in very vulnerable situations who are really not okay. In this comparison of outcomes, I think it is safe to say that most women are affected negatively by sexism, but a smaller, yet significant percentage of women are horrendously abused by misogyny. In other words, it is important to remember that sexism and misogyny are two different things. Sexism is the belief that women are inherently inferior to men, and therefore should be a subservient class, but women are still entitled to a decent respect. Misogyny is the outright hatred of women, and finding satisfaction and self-justification in the abuse of them. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2026, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848/40 "2026-02-20T23:00:34Z")
N > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Do black women have it worse than white women? Yes. There’s your answer. Not sure that answers it. I think you’d have to compare black men to white women. Which is hard, because, like, some different issues. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sexism-stronger-than-racism-in-america/1027848.md?page=3)