And One Protracted Thought...
I had a conversation last week that has just stuck in my mind. This conversation had to do with sexism and whether or not it still exists (this was after seeing the movie Crash, which will bring out any opinions in discrimination). Sexism is a funny issue: for some reason, some people feel as if females are discriminated against, even though they are the MAJORITY of the population. Are females truly perceived to play an inferior role in society? Could I be further ahead in my career if I were male?
Now, I would never presume to know how it would feel to be a racial minority. I am positive that being Black in the Southern States, for example, would have it's downsides. I've met enough snooty crackers to know that there are a lot of white-folk who have a serously inflated sense of self-worth. And I've been in Florida and Georgia enough to know that there is a hell of a lot of discrimination going on down there, no question. And that would suck. Kudos to people who can break that cycle.
I am a corn-fed white girl from St, Marys. I grew up in a town that contained no racial diversity whatsoever. Well, there was the Chinese family that owned the Chinese restaurant in town. And a couple of adopted kids that weren't WASPs. But I would say that a population statistic of 7 non-whites:4993 whites would not exactly constitute a "cultural mecca". Point of diatribe here: I did not grow up in a region where discrimination was an issue. So really, I never even thought about it until I moved from my little bubble and onto bigger things.
You can imagine my surprise when I walk into a world that is telling me that, as a female, I have been discriminated against. Apparently, my wages are lower, I don't garner as much respect from my coworkers, and I have to be more careful about what I wear because I AM A WOMAN. If I were male, I would be so much more successful in life...
But I've never been in a position that has made me feel inferior because I'm female. And I HATE the fact that there are women out there who exhibit enough presumption to tell me that I have (to be fair: the conversation that I had was with Chris (male) who was telling me about a conversation he had with two females a couple of weeks before about women's rights). But it still pisses me off to know that some chicks are out there "Speaking on behalf of all womenkind". It is especially frustrating as I have a) worked at a Cement plant (where my job involved hard labour and heavy machinery operation), and b) work in psychophysics, which is still a predominantly male profession. I think that if anyone is/was going to be discriminated against, it would be me. The fact that I have not posits three potential explanations:
1. I am so unattractive that others do not consider me to be a female, hence I have not been sexually discriminated against. Possible, but I can think of at least one little toad who has cried sexual discrimination that is undoubtedly less attractive than I.
2. I have been discriminated against, but am so naive that I did not recognize it. I admit that I can be very naive. But so naive that I couldn't recognize the fact that I was degraded simply because I was a woman? I find that unlikely.
3. Sexual discrimination is a crutch term that is often used by people who have an extreme external locus of control. In my 30 years, I have learned that a lot of people are idiots. A lot. And, by and large, most of them don't know it, and instead blame their inadequencies on the world around them. This is especially true in the silver-spoon population. Instead of claiming responsibility for their own failures, they blame anything and anyone around them instead.
Don't get me wrong... I am sure that there are still cases of sexual discrimination that exist. And thank god that I have not had to deal with that. But when I sit there and have to listen to a 20-something year old say that they recieved a "C" on a political-science paper simply because they were female... I mean c'mon. That's just insulting and disrespectful to the millions of peope who face REAL discrimination every day. Grab some sense of responsibility.
And let the hate mail begin!
Now, I would never presume to know how it would feel to be a racial minority. I am positive that being Black in the Southern States, for example, would have it's downsides. I've met enough snooty crackers to know that there are a lot of white-folk who have a serously inflated sense of self-worth. And I've been in Florida and Georgia enough to know that there is a hell of a lot of discrimination going on down there, no question. And that would suck. Kudos to people who can break that cycle.
I am a corn-fed white girl from St, Marys. I grew up in a town that contained no racial diversity whatsoever. Well, there was the Chinese family that owned the Chinese restaurant in town. And a couple of adopted kids that weren't WASPs. But I would say that a population statistic of 7 non-whites:4993 whites would not exactly constitute a "cultural mecca". Point of diatribe here: I did not grow up in a region where discrimination was an issue. So really, I never even thought about it until I moved from my little bubble and onto bigger things.
You can imagine my surprise when I walk into a world that is telling me that, as a female, I have been discriminated against. Apparently, my wages are lower, I don't garner as much respect from my coworkers, and I have to be more careful about what I wear because I AM A WOMAN. If I were male, I would be so much more successful in life...
But I've never been in a position that has made me feel inferior because I'm female. And I HATE the fact that there are women out there who exhibit enough presumption to tell me that I have (to be fair: the conversation that I had was with Chris (male) who was telling me about a conversation he had with two females a couple of weeks before about women's rights). But it still pisses me off to know that some chicks are out there "Speaking on behalf of all womenkind". It is especially frustrating as I have a) worked at a Cement plant (where my job involved hard labour and heavy machinery operation), and b) work in psychophysics, which is still a predominantly male profession. I think that if anyone is/was going to be discriminated against, it would be me. The fact that I have not posits three potential explanations:
1. I am so unattractive that others do not consider me to be a female, hence I have not been sexually discriminated against. Possible, but I can think of at least one little toad who has cried sexual discrimination that is undoubtedly less attractive than I.
2. I have been discriminated against, but am so naive that I did not recognize it. I admit that I can be very naive. But so naive that I couldn't recognize the fact that I was degraded simply because I was a woman? I find that unlikely.
3. Sexual discrimination is a crutch term that is often used by people who have an extreme external locus of control. In my 30 years, I have learned that a lot of people are idiots. A lot. And, by and large, most of them don't know it, and instead blame their inadequencies on the world around them. This is especially true in the silver-spoon population. Instead of claiming responsibility for their own failures, they blame anything and anyone around them instead.
Don't get me wrong... I am sure that there are still cases of sexual discrimination that exist. And thank god that I have not had to deal with that. But when I sit there and have to listen to a 20-something year old say that they recieved a "C" on a political-science paper simply because they were female... I mean c'mon. That's just insulting and disrespectful to the millions of peope who face REAL discrimination every day. Grab some sense of responsibility.
And let the hate mail begin!
posted by Anderson at 8:30 PM
2 Comments:
Another alternative explanation for the experience of sexism (and I've been thinking on this one for YEARS): Some people are more prone to discrimination than others not simply for having the given trait (i.e., a vagina) but because they're displaying behaviours that invite discrimination. So it happens to them.
And sometimes they're looking for it to happen, so they will find it in ambiguous situations. I fully expect that people will find me charming and powerful, so unless someone comes right out and tells me otherwise, that's the impression I assume they have of me. If I were someone else, I might assume a different perception. But I'm too damn arrogant for that.
Amen Honey. I knew that you would think along the same lines. I fully agree.
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