4 ms·

I don't think it's unreasonable to point out that a) racist and sexist abuse are a thing which b) in the US and other western countries white men experience rar

I don't think it's unreasonable to point out that a) racist and sexist abuse are a thing which b) in the US and other western countries white men experience rarely, by virtue of being neither women nor belonging to an ethnic minority group. That doesn't mean that all white men are to blame for such abuse, and it's fallacious of you to claim the article is advocating that. It's also super important for us white dudes to consider that the volume of such abuse we see ourselves is much lower, because we are not targets of it. You gotta give weight to other people's reported experience, too.

forgetsusername 10y ago
>I don't think it's unreasonable to point out that a) racist and sexist abuse are a thing I understand that "racism" and "sexism" are things without mention of and/or blaming "straight, white men". >that the volume of such abuse we see ourselves is much lower I'm not sure how the fact that because specific demographics witness fewer abuses they should somehow be assumed to be part of the problem.
- sp332 10y ago
  The straight white men who (largely) built and run Twitter failed to manage harassment on the service. Presumably they just don't think it's a big problem because they don't see it. They have actually admitted this a few times. http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/4/7982099/twitter-ceo-sent-memo-taking-personal-responsibility-for-the http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/4/7982099/twitter-ceo-sent-me... https://twitter.com/bhcarpenter/status/695824384594808832 https://twitter.com/bhcarpenter/status/695824384594808832 & https://twitter.com/bhcarpenter/status/695834826432065536 https://twitter.com/bhcarpenter/status/695834826432065536
choko 10y ago
If all white men are not to blame, then there's really no need to point out that the abusers are straight, white, and male.
- _petronius 10y ago
  If the majority of the abusers fall into class X and target class Y, and your goal is to explain or stop this behaviour, then that is informationally relevant, yeah. This does not imply that all or indeed a majority of all members of class X are abusers. (And more importantly, this article doesn't go anywhere near making that claim.) Not all victims of abuse are black or women, but black women get a disproportionate amount of abuse. Should be ignore that, too? How do we hope to provide systemic solutions if we ignore such important data?
  - choko 10y ago
    That sounds an awful lot like profiling to me, and the social narrative is that profiling is wrong and immoral. Or is it ok to profile as long as you are profiling someone you perceive to be a member of a privileged class? I have a hard time keeping the rules straight.

forgetsusername 10y ago

>I don't think it's unreasonable to point out that a) racist and sexist abuse are a thing I understand that "racism" and "sexism" are things without mention of and/or blaming "straight, white men". >that the volume of such abuse we see ourselves is much lower I'm not sure how the fact that because specific demographics witness fewer abuses they should somehow be assumed to be part of the problem.

sp332 10y ago
The straight white men who (largely) built and run Twitter failed to manage harassment on the service. Presumably they just don't think it's a big problem because they don't see it. They have actually admitted this a few times. http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/4/7982099/twitter-ceo-sent-memo-taking-personal-responsibility-for-the http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/4/7982099/twitter-ceo-sent-me... https://twitter.com/bhcarpenter/status/695824384594808832 https://twitter.com/bhcarpenter/status/695824384594808832 & https://twitter.com/bhcarpenter/status/695834826432065536 https://twitter.com/bhcarpenter/status/695834826432065536

choko 10y ago

If all white men are not to blame, then there's really no need to point out that the abusers are straight, white, and male.

_petronius 10y ago
If the majority of the abusers fall into class X and target class Y, and your goal is to explain or stop this behaviour, then that is informationally relevant, yeah. This does not imply that all or indeed a majority of all members of class X are abusers. (And more importantly, this article doesn't go anywhere near making that claim.) Not all victims of abuse are black or women, but black women get a disproportionate amount of abuse. Should be ignore that, too? How do we hope to provide systemic solutions if we ignore such important data?
- choko 10y ago
  That sounds an awful lot like profiling to me, and the social narrative is that profiling is wrong and immoral. Or is it ok to profile as long as you are profiling someone you perceive to be a member of a privileged class? I have a hard time keeping the rules straight.