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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37720
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Sexism is fine in a story **WHEN** it is a part of the story's world, or a character's personality, and **NOT** the lesson of the story itself.

It's lazy to say that a story is "sexist" unless the story _itself_ is trying to encourage sexism, which isn't the case if sexism is simply a part of the world the story is exploring (just like it's apart of ours.)

An example: A Handmaid's Tale. Is the story sexist? No. The world in the story is. The male characters in the story certainly are. But neither the book, nor Margaret Atwood, would be (or should be) considered "sexist."

Now, of course, if your writing a story who's moral is "men are better than women" or some bullshit like that, then yes, there's a serious problem. But that's something else entirely. As another example, the Turner Diaries. Now, that book is an example of racism, not sexism, but the concept still stands. The message of the Turner Diaries is "all black people should be killed" and that makes the books themselves, and by extension the author, despicable and vile.

Simply bear in mind the lesson you want the story to put forth and the lesson your reader will perceive you're putting forth.

Original score: 5