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Monday, May 04, 2015

Is That Sexist?

My younger daughter just got her driving learner's permit. In California, after receiving one's permit, the first two hours of driving has to be with a professional driving instructor in a special car where the instructor has a brake and steering wheel as well.

My daughter wanted her instructor to be a woman. She asked me, "Is that sexist?"

The snarky comment that almost escaped my mouth was, "No, because only white males can be sexist." Fortunately, I choked that one back.

Instead, I said, "Well, I don't know, but if so, it would be an illustration of just how meaningless negative words like that can be at times. I wouldn't worry about it."

Was that the right answer?

4 comments:

Clovis said...

I guess that specific preference for the company of women, in general purpose activities, is in itself a very feminine thing.

Unless the woman in front of you is stunningly beautiful, I don't think men care too much who they are dealing with.

One need to be very low on hormones, or very high in ideology, to think those features are only social constructs instead of nearly reflexive acts of our brain.

Bret said...

Apparently my snarky comment of "No, because only white males can be sexist" would've been more accurate.

From http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/goldsmiths-students-union-diversity-officer-says-she-cannot-be-racist-or-sexist-to-white-men-because-she-is-an-ethnic-minority-woman-10244520.html :

"Furthermore, there have been charges made against me that I am racist and sexist to white men. I want to explain why this is false. I, an ethnic minority woman, cannot be racist or sexist towards white men, because racism and sexism describes structures of privilege based on race and gender. And therefore women of colour and minority genders cannot be racist or sexist because we do not stand to benefit from such a system."

erp said...

Take that people who say women are illogical!

On a serious note, this convoluting of sex with gender is driving me crazy!!!! ... and "colour"???

Is she a Brit?

Bret said...

She's a Brit.