The Student Room Group

It is only sexist when men do it

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Original post by CJKay
Honestly, I'm not really seeing how. I certainly don't feel like I have any power over my female peers and, having asked them, neither do they. I can't really think of anything I could do that they would be looked down upon for. In all likelihood, in my sector, they're more likely to be hired to fill quotas seeing as so many technology companies focus on "diversity" nowadays.


Why don't you go topless somewhere and why don't I and let's compare the reactions we get.

Just because you don't actively feel like having power doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Reply 61
Original post by SarcasticMel
Why don't you go topless somewhere and why don't I and let's compare the reactions we get.

Just because you don't actively feel like having power doesn't mean it doesn't exist.


I assure you most people would not be happy with me walking around topless. :lol:
Original post by CJKay
I assure you most people would not be happy with me walking around topless. :lol:


And yet you would still get a different reaction than I would.
Reply 63
Original post by SarcasticMel
And yet you would still get a different reaction than I would.


Well yeah, you have tits.
Reply 64
Original post by Tyrion_Lannister
I'm saying that institutionally men have more power than women

Who built those institutions?
Original post by LaughingBro
I hate it when ppl say it's wrong to hit women ! Its implying that its fine to hit men, innit!?


I think that they are implying that you shouldn't hit anyone, unless you are in serious danger because of them (e.g. If they are violently attacking you), regardless of gender.
Original post by anarchism101
I should add to this that the army is one of the main, if not the main, organ of state power. If a government is trying to pack the army with members of a particular group through, it's most likely a sign that the current system actually privileges that group. This is for obvious reasons; you don't want to give oppressed elements in your society control of an institution that could overthrow the current regime tomorrow if it wanted to.

Cases in point:
- SADF (conscription for whites, volunteer for Asians and coloureds, barred completely to blacks)
- IDF (conscription for Jews, volunteer for Arabs)
- Rhodesian Army (conscription for whites, volunteer for blacks)
- Wehrmacht (conscription for 'Aryan' Germans, barred completely to Jews and Slavs, volunteer for other ethnic minorities)


It's a bit irrelevant to this forum, but if the army is the main organ of state power, that is equivalent to a oppressive authoritarian military regime, like the one in Egypt.
Original post by JG1233
Sexism is sexism, the men who actually fought and died in the war had no say whether or not they were going to be forced to fight. Just because men were the main policy makers doesn't mean they were unable to be sexist to their own gender, and the person i quoted stated men had never died due to sexism. In traditional Indian households daughters often suffer sexism (arranged marriages, maintaining honour) etc. However often the mother is just as much as guilty as the father, so does that then mean it isn't sexist?

I would agree women still suffer sexism slightly more than men in everyday life, but not the the extent many feminists make out. I would also agree feminism does still have a massive place in many other countries (usually LEDCS as you mentioned), however it now really lacks almost any importance in the UK as the gap is so small there is no reason now to focus solely on one gender (especially considering the radicals now linked with feminism and the menial campaigns currently being waged by feminists).


I agree with you on your first point of sexism and I agree that we need egalitarianism and good attitudes in MEDCs and feminism and end to violence against women in LEDCs - unlike some people on TSR you are intelligent enough to realise that. I would +1 your comment but I have run out! :biggrin:
On the other hand, I don't understand your comment on daughters, forced marriage and responsibility - could you please explain it? Thanks!
Original post by JG1233


Being a mother is extremely common and a massive majority of women end up having children and raising a family, how is it sexist to be curious as to why you would not? Its like a couple deciding not to get married, its fine and nobody really cares but of course people will probably ask why and be a bit curious because its not the normal thing to do.


As I said quite clearly in my post, none of my male peers have ever been asked to justify their decisions but I am expected to. That's why I find it sexist.

The original post was asking if we thought only men could be sexist and my post was simply illustrating my experience of sexism from both genders.
Original post by CJKay
Well yeah, you have tits.


And?
Original post by Ichiko N.A.B.

It's a bit irrelevant to this forum, but if the army is the main organ of state power, that is equivalent to a oppressive authoritarian military regime, like the one in Egypt.


It depends. The state always requires some apparatus of coercion. Generally there are two - the police and the army. In the modern West, where invasion by a neighbouring country is unlikely and internal insurgent groups are rare and relatively weak, the police are much more often the executors of power, with the army only really there as a last resort (and to partake in foreign interventions).

In countries where internal security is more at risk, the army is used more, though this doesn't necessarily make it a military regime - Apartheid South Africa was incredibly dependent on its military, but would never really be considered a military regime.
Original post by Tyrion_Lannister
Let me explain power structures to you

If you shout "you're fired" to your boss, nothing happens to him, because you're not in a position of power over him

If he shouts "you're fired" at you, you lose your job. The same thing was said, yet it had much worse consequences when he said it because he's in a position of power

I don't agree with people being "sexist" to men but you cannot argue it is as damaging as sexism towards females


What is this? Are you joking. In what way is this true in any sense. This comment just shows the limitations of 'sexism' as socially restricted to women for ABSOLUTELY no reason. This comment is in fact incredibly sexist in my own right. And what a seriously ridiculous analogy. Sexism goes both ways.
Reply 71
Original post by ChelseaYvonne
As I said quite clearly in my post, none of my male peers have ever been asked to justify their decisions but I am expected to. That's why I find it sexist.

The original post was asking if we thought only men could be sexist and my post was simply illustrating my experience of sexism from both genders.


Because ultimately the man cannot choose?
Its the woman who carries the baby, and so really her choice in the relationship whether they will have kids, so a guy may be asked if he would like children but he can't really answer whether or not he will have children like a mother can.

Original post by Ichiko N.A.B.
On the other hand, I don't understand your comment on daughters, forced marriage and responsibility - could you please explain it? Thanks!


In traditional Indian households daughters often suffer sexism, due to being expected to behave and even dress in a certain way often due to family honour (hence the fact there is so many honour killings going on within families). I was using it as an example when you said men being forced to fight wasn't really sexist because its ultimately men who decided the policy, in these families the mothers are almost just as usually guilty as the fathers but that doesn't make the treatment any less sexist.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 72
Original post by SarcasticMel
Don't deflect mate, it makes you look unintelligent.


According to who? The person completely unaware why men and women get different looks when they go outside partially nude?
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by CJKay
According to who? The person completely unaware why men and women get different looks when they go outside partially nude?


Who said I was completely unaware? And I wasn't talking about looks but reactions.

And you don't even seem to be able to understand the underlying issue.
Saying you can't be sexist towards a man is like saying you can't be racist to a white person.

I have always been very strong on this matter:

Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feminism).

To not have the same standing of sexism to men and women, would be anti-feminist regardless of whether it was against a man or a woman.

You can just as easily be sexist towards a man than you can to a woman.
Original post by JG1233


In traditional Indian households daughters often suffer sexism, due to being expected to behave and even dress in a certain way often due to family honour (hence the fact there is so many honour killings going on within families). I was using it as an example when you said men being forced to fight wasn't really sexist because its ultimately men who decided the policy, in these families the mothers are almost just as usually guilty as the fathers but that doesn't make the treatment any less sexist.


Well I understand now, your point makes sense. Thank you. I guess things like this are just the product of messed up values in society, regardless of who created them in the first place.
Please can we stop it with the insults and the harmful generalisations guys, I don't want to have to lock the thread.
Original post by SarcasticMel
Why don't you go topless somewhere and why don't I and let's compare the reactions we get.

Just because you don't actively feel like having power doesn't mean it doesn't exist.


So having tits gives you less power?

That's interesting.
Original post by XMaramena
Saying you can't be sexist towards a man is like saying you can't be racist to a white person.

I have always been very strong on this matter:

Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feminism).

To not have the same standing of sexism to men and women, would be anti-feminist regardless of whether it was against a man or a woman.

You can just as easily be sexist towards a man than you can to a woman.


You're right, but you should really have used the definition of 'sexism'.

The quote you used has a glaring caveat, which I've highlighted. This caveat undermines your point.
Original post by TurboCretin
You're right, but you should really have used the definition of 'sexism'.

The quote you used has a glaring caveat, which I've highlighted. This caveat undermines your point.


This is true, well pointed out - one would be best saying it in a way that "women have equal rights to men".

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