Remember the episode when Ralph's fellow Raccoon Lodge brother Stanley Saxon was about to marry Alice's sister Agnes? In the opening scene, Ralph says to Stanley "You are the king. Because a man's home is his castle. And in that castle you're the king. Tomorrow when Agnes says "I do" that's the last decision you'll allow her to make." He nearly ruined their marriage with that piece of advice. Did you think that Ralph was sexist on women in general?

Certainly he was sexist. But back then, sexism was part of the culture and it was unremarkable and probably not noticed by anyone. I doubt if we could find any sitcom from that era that totally lacked sexism.

Ralph also was verbally abusive to Alice, and I have heard objections from some on this point. But in fifties television there was an understanding that this was not meant to be taken seriously and was merely a comic device.

In today's world, where the media are saturated with violence both fictional and real, many supposedly humorous statements and attitudes from fifties comedy TV would not be considered so funny, but those were innocent times. The average viewer back then couldn't conceive that Ralph would ever really hit Alice even though he threatened to do so constantly.

Ultimately though, everyone knew that Ralph loved Alice.

Well, if Ralph actually thought that he was better than a woman (i.e. Alice) then he probably would have never been scared of her. His bark was bigger than his bite when it came to standing-up to Alice. I think that the show portrayed the way real married couples bicker at times and that the "sexism" was just Ralph's way (although he never means it) of taking a jab at his wife.......just like Alice made constant fun of Ralph's weight......or does she really hate fat people?......does she hate blue-collared workers? she always made fun of his job and wages - so on and so on. They fight and bicker like honeymooners - one tries to outdo the other (pretty much like a real couple would)......that's why the show is titled "The Honeymooners", even though they've been married for over 10 years. Archie Bunker fits the "sexist" mold a little better. So in my humble opinion, Ralph is not a sexist.

I think Ralph tried to be superior but Alice kept him in check.;)

Jax77 -

Hmmm, you seem to disagree with my assessment of the situation. Well, just to prove that I'M not sexist, I asked my wife which post she agreed with. She said they both sound true in their own way (she's very diplomatic). So I looked up the definition of sexism. American Heritage Dictionary's second definition is "Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender". Under this interpretation, I would have to say that Ralph's attitude is at least sometimes sexist. Not in every episode, but once in a while, he makes a statement that stereotypes women in general, such as the time when Alice said something like "You've forgotten I'm a woman" and Ralph replied "How could I? You're always yappin'!". It's true that this is just part of bickering between them, but there are other ways to bicker that don't include promoting gender stereotypes.

Your point about weight is well taken - so we might say that Alice is "weightist" (along with Norton!).

And yes, Archie Bunker IS much worse when it comes to sexism!