This Is the Difference Between Sexism and Male Chauvinism — I Had No Idea

Sens is the general term for any discrimination based on a person's sens or gender. Male chauvinism is a specific variant of sens that defends men's superiority over women.

Sens and male chauvinism are often used as if they were the same thing, and they are not. The former is the broad umbrella: any behavior, attitude or judgment that classifies people by their sens or gender and assigns them fixed roles or stereotypes. The latter is a specific branch of that umbrella, the one that establishes a hierarchy in which the masculine rules and the feminine is subordinated.

## What sens covers and who it affects

Sens is not always violent or obvious. Sometimes it disguises itself as good intentions, which is known as benevolent sens, and that is why it is harder to detect. It can be directed at women as well as men, and also at trans and intersensinter people.

Examples help to see it. Saying that men don't know how to care for babies is sens against men. Saying that women are naturally better cooks is sens against women. In both cases there is a stereotype that assigns a role based on sens.

## Male chauvinism as a hierarchy, not just prejudice

Male chauvinism adds something that general sens does not always have: arrogance, privilege and male domination over women. It does not stop at the stereotype, but builds a hierarchy where the masculine is superior, restrictive and dominant.

That structure directly discriminates against and subordinates women. It also pressures men to comply with a rigid and destructive mandate of virility, although the main direction of male chauvinism is the prevalence of men.

Typical examples include justifying a pay gap because the man is the household provider, making a woman's achievements invisible, or believing that a man has the right to control his partner's decisions, clothing or outings.

## The rule that clarifies it all

The difference boils down to one sentence: every chauvinistic act is sens, but not every sens comment or behavior is necessarily chauvinistic. Sens can discriminate against men, women or diverse identities; male chauvinism establishes the superiority of men.

That distinction matters because not every gender prejudice has the same root or the same severity. Confusing them leads to arguing about the label instead of the behavior.