Homer, an old-fashioned sexist.

Homer is a plain old-fashioned sexist.  He is constantly depicting women as stay at home, good for the sole purpose of seduction, his characters pass judgement based on beauty, and believes men are superior to women.  One very evident example of Homer's sexism is proved through Odysseus, women should stay at home, and take care of the house and their kids.  While Odysseus is on his fascinating journey home, Penelope is at home all the while weaving, and waiting.  Although Penelope is puts together a cunning plot to hold off the suitors, she does so by a very stereotypical activity of a woman--weaving.  If Homer was an early feminist, he would have written about Penelope heroically rescuing her husband, and her own brave adventures instead of waiting at the loom.  

Another reason that Homer should be considered sexist is because of his opinion that woman are mainly good for sex.  Odysseus' stops in the Odyssey involve sex with a woman and then a departure.  In modern day, this would be viewed as very sexist, as it should be even thousands of years ago.  Homer's characters base many things on beauty alone.  The suitors are willing to stay at Penelope's house to gain her approval because of their desire to be with a women as beautiful as her.  Most of the time that woman are in The Odyssey and The Iliad, they are being seduced, or being judged on their beauty.  Also, Homer's descriptions of women are normally only about appearance, and don't involve any attention to intelligence or strength.

The most clear way that Homer is proved to be a sexist is because of his on-going illustrations of men being superior to women.  Homer's plots are all about men and their heroic stories. The Odyssey is about one man's journey home.  He makes this man very exciting, wise, strong, shrewd, and all-around amazing.  The Iliad is about men gaining glory and fighting manly battles.  Nowhere in these stories are there women suiting up for battle, although it's proven that women can be spectacular in war from other accounts.  Men's superiority is also seen in Olympus.  One could argue that Athena and other goddesses are good at hunting, wise, strong, and intelligent.  However, these skills and attributes are never used fully to their potential because they always need to check in with Zeus, and are always punished by Zeus for their actions.  For example, Hera can't help in the battle, she has to go through Poseidon, and outflank Zeus to get her way.  Athena and Hera are punished brutally because of their failure to be on Zeus' side.  

Homer's writing and characters always argue that men are better than women.  This is disappointing that there aren't more accounts of women in ancient Greece, because of Homer's dominant epic poetry about men and their superiority.