Sexism against your own gender

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#1
I just had a thought earlier. Is it possible to be sexist against your own gender? I know for example the N word is a big no no for a white person to say, yet the black community use it all the time.

In a similar vein, is it ok for men to use the term "mansplaining" and still be non-sexist towards their own gender?
 
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Bee

Founding Member
#2
I'll let you into a secret. It's possible for men to be feminists without betraying their own gender.

Gender and the politics of the person don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Try it :)
 

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#3
I consider the term feminism to be exclusionary. I prefer equality. Some may say it amounts to the same thing, but for me the emphasis is different. The term feminism is sexist, while the term equality isn't. :D
 

The_Doc_Man

Founding Member
#7
For me it is a sense of fairness. I prefer the "equality" path. Where feminism seeks equality and empowerment of the disenfranchised, downtrodden, or hopeless women trapped in bad situations, I'm in favor of it. Which is why I have never at any time employed a "woman of the night" or whatever euphemism you might choose. However, at some point, "equality" has to include a recognition that a person is stuck in a particular job or situation because of conscious decisions made elsewhere in life.

I think back to the time I made a decision to NOT become a corporate vice-president (for a small-to-mid-sized company) due to family issues. I declined a promotion that could have increased my salary, given me more corporate power, and allowed for other interesting things to happen. I did that because I would have had to neglect my mother just as she had taken a turn for the worse with her Alzheimer's situation. So I said NO. And while there will always be regrets when someone knowingly turns down a "step up" in the path to empowerment, I can still weigh the path taken vs. the path not taken and say I did the right thing.

Where a decision is based on fraudulent claims, such as the claims made by human traffickers to lure women into sexual slavery, that needs to stop. Where a decision is based on weighing alternatives and picking the one with the greatest positives and weakest negatives, the person that did THAT already HAS equality to the best possible degree.
 
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