An easy way to determine if you or someone is taking a sexist position

[RB TexLa]

Just replace "men" or "women" with "African-Americans" or "white." And see how an idea or position sounds.

Such as "Should African-Americans be paid the same for the same work as whites."

Or "We should not subject whites to combat positions in the military."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. African Americans should have regular pap smears.

Hmm.

[Buzz Clik]

4. I can't decide if you're a sexist, a racist, both, or neither.

I am, however, highly offended.

[RB TexLa]

5. Who has proposed a law required pap smears?

I'm sure the AMA would love for people to be required to go give money to a doctor every month if they could get it passed, but I don't think they've pushed it too much.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. It's probably all those people...

going around being sexist and not realizing it.

[Demit]

9. When did 'should' start to mean 'someone proposed a law'? The poster was making a JOKE.

The joke was to show that your semantic trick isn't exactly foolproof.

[deaniac21]

2. Many African-Americans enjoy a variety of positions.

[Buzz Clik]

3. Hey, I don't think of you as less of white person just because I stare at your boobs.

Don't most white people want you to stare at their boobs?

[Carnea]

6. I just ask some chick what she thinks and if she doesn't start crying right away

I know I'm good to go. As for the racial thing I'm technically bi-racial so I just piss myself off.

[Dr. Strange]

15. Is that superhero in your sigline...

Wonder African-American?

[mrreowwr_kittty]

8. Absolutely. It can work the other way too. For example:

"Susan B. Anthony's dream began to be realized when Woodrow Wilson passed the 19th amendment. It took a President to get it done. The power of that dream of the suffragists became real because we had a (male) President capable of action."

Pretty offensive, isn't it? Imagine Obama saying something like that. Would he be defended so assiduously the way someone else was when she was talking about Dr. King and LBJ?

[aquart]

10. Also, check out the charming replies to any post mentioning sexism.

But how nice and courageous of anyone on DU to bring up sexism.

[lukasahero]

14. LOL - That's exactly what I was going to say!

So typical.

[zeemike]

11. White people and children first...

The gentlemen thing to do is open the door for a white person.

Remember African Americans hate it when you leave the toilet seat up.

This is silly.

[midnight]

12. I think that you might have found a linguistic way to wake

people up.

[notesdev]

13. I watch African-Americans' sports

just to watch 'em jiggle. True story.

[Runcible Spoon]

16. well, that's a good rhetorical filter but it kinda bypasses the real problem..

any "-isms" are not due to some intrinsic quality of "being". In other words, historical inequalities manifest themselves into the structural institutions of our society, and as a result people are discriminated against due to the mechanics of who is in power more than who is NOT in power. This is best illustrated by all of the groups Hitler attempted to eradicate.

There is nothing intrinsically different about being female, black, Chinese, short, handicapped, etc...what matters is how those in power define themselves and as a result, most people will fall short on any number of counts and thus cannot be part of the chosen powerful few. And this is how a rigidly hierarchical class society is formed.

Why does this distinction matter? Well, for one new groups which attempt to integrate into American society are automatically measured up for discrimination, as is seen by our waves of migrant history.

In order for a system like this to function, it is necessary to push the mythos of "you can be whatever you want to be". Add just enough "success" stories of X minority and you have the formula for widespread oppression and hegemony.

What we should be asking ourselves is how to redefine the American Dream without re-equating it with financial success.

My American Dream is to re-establish local community. By splintering the consolidation of centralized power and wealth into local communities, the very institutions which rely upon "-isms" to function will cease to hold primary power in our lives. We will always "Other", however...I see a lot of "Othering" on DU of China, for example. Although this is very basic to human social expression across all times and cultures, it's still vital to recognize the process so that it does not result in hate and violence.

[notesdev]

18. Intrinsic differences

>There is nothing intrinsically different about being female, black, Chinese, short, handicapped, etc.

You wanna bet?

Nothing intrinsically different about being female? How many males you know who worry about themselves getting pregnant, or know the pain of menstruation? Who get breast cancer?

Nothing intrinsically different about being black? So when a medical journal points out a higher susceptibility to certain diseases (e.g. diabetes) or a lower susceptibility to others, are they lying? Do black people get sunburned at the same rate as everyone else?

Nothing intrinsically different about being short? So short people can reach the top shelf just as easily as anyone else? And hit their head on a doorframe with the same frequency as Yao Ming?

etc. etc.

Don't deny intrinsic differences. They ARE there, they do exist. It just makes you sound silly to pretend they don't. Mankind is a diverse species in more than just social context.


What there shouldn't be are LEGAL differences. The philosophical basis of the USA is that we are all equal under the law (and in the eyes of God, to those who are believers).

[Runcible Spoon]

19. you're not understanding what I mean by "intrinsic"

what I mean is there is nothing in our differences that justifies being discriminated against. It's that simple. Society constructs justifications for bias, they are not simply plucked from nature.

Sorry that flew over your head.

[notesdev]

20. Take it up with the dictionary

If you mean something don't use a word that means something different!

Not the other person's fault if they actually know what the word means and read what you wrote, as you wrote it.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

21. I am reminded of Tom Lehrer's song "It makes a fellow proud to be a soldier".

"And, the usual jokes about the Army aside, one of the many fine things one has to admit is the way that the Army has carried the American democratic ideal to its logical conclusion, in the sense that not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed, and color, but also on the grounds of ability."

There are plenty of good reasons to discriminate in favour of one person over another.

Many of them correlate with race and/or gender, but neither race nor gender is themselves among them (except in a few specific cases - actors, rape crisis counsellors, political primaries (although not actual elections), etc).

But any phrasing of an approach to this which doesn't clearly distinguish between discrimination against stupid people or discrimination against thieves on the one hand and discrimination on grounds of race, sex, orientation etc needs to be rewritten, I think.

[notesdev]

22. Too many people

confuse discrimination based on prejudice

with discrimination based on good judgment.

Only a mindless zombie doesn't use his judgment to discriminate in favor of the good, the capable, and the innocent, and against the incompetent, the guilty, and the evil.

[Oregone]

17. I like looking at naked African Americans

Hm...Im still not sure if Im sexist.