4 ms·

My thoughts exactly. It is beyond all doubt that sexism exists in the world, there are countless examples of it, from Disney movies, toy advertisement, philharm

My thoughts exactly. It is beyond all doubt that sexism exists in the world, there are countless examples of it, from Disney movies, toy advertisement, philharmonic orchestra, etc, etc. I find it a bit strange to label the speaker as a sexist just because he didn't let someone speak. Maybe he is just a dick? Maybe she was rude to him back stage? Maybe he was having a bad day? Maybe the chemistry between them was off? You have no idea what is going on beyond him not letting someone speak. I even find it offensive to label his behaviour as sexist. What, I now can't be rude to a woman without being called a sexist? People should stick to the facts, not fill in the underlying reasoning. Well... unless you want to spark heated debates of course, in which case it is a solid strategy.

DanBC 9y ago
People talking over other people is a problem of sexism because the people doing the talking are mostly men, and the people being talked over are mostly (but not always) women; but also because the consequences for challenging this behaviour are different for men and women. If a man asserts himself he's seen as confident and assertive, and other positive labels If a woman asserts herself she's seen as aggressive, shrill, > What, I now can't be rude to a woman without being called a sexist? If your rudeness is more likely to happen to women then maybe it's a result of sexism.
- collyw 9y ago
  Bollocks. I have two ex-collegues who were exactly like this, no matter who they interacted with. I make a point of avoiding them now.
- mosselman 9y ago
  > ...because the people doing the talking are mostly men, and the people being talked over are mostly (but not always) women; I find _this_ sexist. I know cases where the opposite is true as well as where the interruptor does not care about the gender of the other person. > If your rudeness is more likely to happen to women then maybe it's a result of sexism. If A=A then A=A, therefore we can conclude that A=A. How wise. I am not saying sexism doesn't exist, I am just saying that the author of this article is very liberal with her accusations based on a single observation of the moderator. Moreover, ironically, it is very sexist of her and I find this unfair to the moderator and men in general.
specialist 9y ago
You don't have to be a sexist, racist to say stupid things. Bill Maher just dropped the n-bomb. It's not for me to determine what offends other people. To have successful interactions, relationships, I try very hard to meet other people where they're at, listen more than talk, adapt. Sometimes it doesn't work. Most of the time it does. --- In this case, the moderator's job is to make the panel shine, just like Johnny Carson. But he didn't. And if our collective guess why is wrong, he could still up his game.
- curiousgal 9y ago
  > the moderator's job is to make the panel shine To be honest, it wasn't any different from any panel I've witnessed, there's always people speaking over each other, let alone in vague subjects such as cosmology and string theory. Just a classic case of confirmation bias if you ask me; "Scientists are sexist" "Oh he interrupted her!" "Yup sexism is confirmed"
  - vacri 9y ago
    Sexist or not, he was rude as a moderator. I've only watched the bit of the video in question so I haven't seen how the others were treated, but he talks at length about the panelist's theories, talking for her. It wasn't just 'interruption', he was talking for the panelist. If your moderator is getting as much talk time as your panelist, you have a bad moderator.
  - dwaltrip 9y ago
    Sexism is not a binary thing... There can be small degrees of deep-rooted sexism that are present in situations like the OP, which are mixed together with general rudeness and perhaps some over excitedness. In this case, calling the host "sexist" might even be a little unfair, as he his behavior might be closer to an actual social norm that contains some less extreme aspects of sexism. Instead, we might describe the event as a minor example of structural sexism in today's culture/society, without needing to label the host as a "sexist". Most importantly, we should realize that descriptions of events like this are very complex, subtle, immensely context dependent, time sensitive, and difficult. It is a moment in time, caught between decades of cultural shift and new ways of looking at things. It's not surprising people have different takes, and that you can't really call any specific interpretation perfectly correct. We are pushing up against current limits in our ability to understand and discuss certain visceral, important parts of the human experience. I don't think that trying to box things like this into one extreme or the other is helpful.

DanBC 9y ago

People talking over other people is a problem of sexism because the people doing the talking are mostly men, and the people being talked over are mostly (but not always) women; but also because the consequences for challenging this behaviour are different for men and women. If a man asserts himself he's seen as confident and assertive, and other positive labels If a woman asserts herself she's seen as aggressive, shrill, > What, I now can't be rude to a woman without being called a sexist? If your rudeness is more likely to happen to women then maybe it's a result of sexism.

collyw 9y ago
Bollocks. I have two ex-collegues who were exactly like this, no matter who they interacted with. I make a point of avoiding them now.
mosselman 9y ago
> ...because the people doing the talking are mostly men, and the people being talked over are mostly (but not always) women; I find _this_ sexist. I know cases where the opposite is true as well as where the interruptor does not care about the gender of the other person. > If your rudeness is more likely to happen to women then maybe it's a result of sexism. If A=A then A=A, therefore we can conclude that A=A. How wise. I am not saying sexism doesn't exist, I am just saying that the author of this article is very liberal with her accusations based on a single observation of the moderator. Moreover, ironically, it is very sexist of her and I find this unfair to the moderator and men in general.

specialist 9y ago

You don't have to be a sexist, racist to say stupid things. Bill Maher just dropped the n-bomb. It's not for me to determine what offends other people. To have successful interactions, relationships, I try very hard to meet other people where they're at, listen more than talk, adapt. Sometimes it doesn't work. Most of the time it does. --- In this case, the moderator's job is to make the panel shine, just like Johnny Carson. But he didn't. And if our collective guess why is wrong, he could still up his game.

curiousgal 9y ago
> the moderator's job is to make the panel shine To be honest, it wasn't any different from any panel I've witnessed, there's always people speaking over each other, let alone in vague subjects such as cosmology and string theory. Just a classic case of confirmation bias if you ask me; "Scientists are sexist" "Oh he interrupted her!" "Yup sexism is confirmed"
- vacri 9y ago
  Sexist or not, he was rude as a moderator. I've only watched the bit of the video in question so I haven't seen how the others were treated, but he talks at length about the panelist's theories, talking for her. It wasn't just 'interruption', he was talking for the panelist. If your moderator is getting as much talk time as your panelist, you have a bad moderator.
- dwaltrip 9y ago
  Sexism is not a binary thing... There can be small degrees of deep-rooted sexism that are present in situations like the OP, which are mixed together with general rudeness and perhaps some over excitedness. In this case, calling the host "sexist" might even be a little unfair, as he his behavior might be closer to an actual social norm that contains some less extreme aspects of sexism. Instead, we might describe the event as a minor example of structural sexism in today's culture/society, without needing to label the host as a "sexist". Most importantly, we should realize that descriptions of events like this are very complex, subtle, immensely context dependent, time sensitive, and difficult. It is a moment in time, caught between decades of cultural shift and new ways of looking at things. It's not surprising people have different takes, and that you can't really call any specific interpretation perfectly correct. We are pushing up against current limits in our ability to understand and discuss certain visceral, important parts of the human experience. I don't think that trying to box things like this into one extreme or the other is helpful.