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> 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

> 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.

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.