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Women are exposed to multiple stressors that derive from various forms of violence and social injustice, most notably sexism. Sexism is an ideological system that maintains and reinforces gender injustice, which manifests at institutional, interactional, and individual levels. Among the various iterations of structural sexism, internalized sexism encourages women to retain and reproduce sexist messages unconsciously, leading to such adverse mental health outcomes as increased feelings of inferiority and self-doubt. With this background, the current article provides a review of literature on internalized sexism among women, as well as its impact on women's mental health. In so doing, we posit the Feminist-Multicultural Orientation and Social Justice Competencies (F-MCOSJ) as a model for mental health counselors tending to women clients. This model includes feminist multicultural orientation, awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions. A case example is provided to demonstrate how the F-MCOSJ can be applied to address internalized sexism in counseling.
Sexism is a form of oppression in which individual and systemic manifestations of prejudices, attitudes, and behaviors promote and maintain male dominance and suppress women through socially, politically, and economically exploitative means (Cherry & Wilcox, 2021). The oppression that women experience should be considered within the interlocking system, as sexism operates with intersecting and interdependent social identities (Crenshaw, 1991). The concept of intersectionality emphasizes that various identities (e.g., race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nation, ability, and age) are not separate categories but interact with each other in complex ways (Collins, 2015). For example, women of color may encounter both sexism and racism, which creates a unique form of oppression that differs from the experiences of White women or men of color (Collins, 2015; Crenshaw, 1991). In this regard, adopting feminist approaches with multicultural and social justice counseling paradigms has been requested in the counseling profession (Crethar et al, 2008).
Sexism can manifest in a variety of ways, ranging from sexual and/or physical abuse at school, the workplace, and healthcare institutions (Chung, 2005; The White House, 2021) to gender-based barriers and challenges in career development and transition (Ronzio, 2012), as well as gender wage disparities (Council of Economic Advisors, 2015). Homan (2019) categorized the various expressions of sexism into three groups: institutional, interpersonal, and individual sexism. Among the three layers of sexism, the majority of research...