The reasons [why the sex barrier was not taken as seriously as the racial one] are as pervasive as the air we breathe: because sexism is still confused with nature as racism one was; because anything that affects males is seen as more serious than anything that affects "only" the female half of the human race; because children are still raised mostly by women (to put it mildly) so men especially tend to feel they are regressing to childhood when dealing with a powerful woman; because racism stereotyped black men as more "masculine" for so long that some white men find their presence to be masculinity-affirming (as long as there aren't too many of them); and because there is still no "right" way to be a women in public power without being considered a you-know-what.
-- Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road, p. 167-168
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