And besides, the thread is dead.

[kiya]

But this post here is very much what I wished could get expressed at rasfc, back when the whole -ism discussion was happening.

Sigh.

Comments

[surelars.livejournal.com]

That was an excellent read. Thanks for the link.

One thing I'm missing is the distinction between "being racist" and "racist behaviour / thinking / whatever". I find it more useful to acknowledge that I have "sexist thoughts" or "behave in a sexist way" than that "I'm sexist". It gives me more hope for change.

Likewise, I find there's a better chance for a constructive dialogue if I call someone on "sexist behaviour" than if I go "you're a sexist".

But the point is good. It's important to acknowledge that like privilege, racism and sexism are things most of us carry around. It's not just the monsters over there.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I liked what the article said on that account. I am less racist than I used to be; but I had that almost-instinctive fear of _the other_, where _the other_ was anyone not looking like me. Wasn't a problem with 'members of my tribe' - anybody I knew personally - but was a problem with strangers. As a kid, if, on the tube, I had the choice between sitting opposite a black person and sitting opposite a white person, I would have chosen the white person. (Unless, of course, the white person was obviously agressive/drunk/batshit crazy.)

I don't have that anymore. I'm much less likely to register colour, to the point of not really registering their skin colour. I remember having watched Jonathan Dimbleby on TV for quite some time before someone referred to 'the black presenter' and I did a double-take and went 'he is black?'. I'd filed him under 'knowledgeable, good journalist', not skin colour.

And I can really reccommend a trip to a country where you stick out like a sore thumb. Travelling in Japan was an eye-opener in that regard. You can't hide if you're the only one. And it is really REALLY hurtful if you're on a crowded train and nobody sits down beside you, or people jump up and take another seat as soon as one gets free.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I would have commented on that blog if it weren't for blogger forcefully signing me out for this particular blog (while leaving me signed in on other blogs (!)).

'Playing the race/gender card' happens. Just as male rape or false accusations happen. And just as there used to be genuine scientists who believed that globalm warming wasn't happening. (Weren't all that many around in 1989 when I first learnt about it at university, but once upon a time, they existed.)

The problem I see is not that these things are discussed, it's that they are being dragged up *every time* and that the opressed group is supposed to give something that might happen 3% of the time the same amount of attention (or possibly more, because it's not being discussed) as the stuff that happens 97% of the time.

Or worse, that it will be posited that nobody should talk about the problems faced by minorities until the problems faced by the majority are solved; those obviously being more important.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

And what bothered me most about that thread was that it's apparently merely fair and balanced to give equal weighting to the idea there are fewer women in science because we're less smart, and that gay people who suffer harm from the use of the word "gay" as an insult are just thin-skinned.

[sunflowerp]

The Bitch PhD post intersects interestingly with some of the themes in my post on emotional abuse. I won't make an LJ post about that tonight (I've already stopped in the middle of reading my f'list to make one unpremeditated post already!), but I probably should do so soon.

Thanks for calling my attention to that; reading Bitch PhD is one of the things that I've let go because of time constraints.

Sunflower