4 ms·

I was merely describing the analogy as misogynist, but if you wish to extend the label to the speaker you have every right to attempt that. If we are to discuss

I was merely describing the analogy as misogynist, but if you wish to extend the label to the speaker you have every right to attempt that. If we are to discuss the rhetoric of my comment, though, I think that weasel words such as "thought crime" are also weak and loaded to the point of being useless in this context. Thoughts are distinct from written words. Edit: typo

cobrausn 14y ago
The speaker obviously had personal experiences involving teenage girls when he was younger, and related it back with a personal anecdote. Calling him (or the analogy) misogynistic is incredibly loaded, and seems more a knee-jerk reaction to anything that depicts one gender negatively without simultaneously doing the same for the other than a real critique. The use of the word 'thought-crime' was quite deliberate. Save the outrage for where it actually matters - there is plenty of real misogyny out there. Just today I read a story about some idiot candidate for Senate in Indiana...
- revdinosaur 14y ago
  The use of the term "thought crime" may have been deliberate, but that does not make it apt. I was in no way claiming to know what the author believes or thinks, only what their words have to offer--which I was summarily disappointed with. I'm sorry if my comment "seemed" to be carrying "loaded" or "knee-jerk" terminology, but after a long period of reading the same anti-woman dreck over and over in tech-related blogs one feels responsible to point it out on occasion. To suggest that the existence of more extreme cases of misogyny supersede the need to make note of lesser cases is a weak and breathless deflection. The idea that any criticism is "outrage" may make you feel justified in your sensitivities, but doesn't take away from my initial assertion. As I attempted to say elsewhere my problem is not that the analogy fails to be gender neutral, but that it is boring.
  - cobrausn 14y ago
    No, but cases of actual misogyny do supersede the need to make note of potential maybe misogyny due to omission during a personal anecdote. In other words, don't cry wolf. I am supportive of the cause and I'm getting annoyed at seeing it thrown around so casually. Now imagine it from the perspective of someone who isn't as supportive.

cobrausn 14y ago

The speaker obviously had personal experiences involving teenage girls when he was younger, and related it back with a personal anecdote. Calling him (or the analogy) misogynistic is incredibly loaded, and seems more a knee-jerk reaction to anything that depicts one gender negatively without simultaneously doing the same for the other than a real critique. The use of the word 'thought-crime' was quite deliberate. Save the outrage for where it actually matters - there is plenty of real misogyny out there. Just today I read a story about some idiot candidate for Senate in Indiana...

revdinosaur 14y ago
The use of the term "thought crime" may have been deliberate, but that does not make it apt. I was in no way claiming to know what the author believes or thinks, only what their words have to offer--which I was summarily disappointed with. I'm sorry if my comment "seemed" to be carrying "loaded" or "knee-jerk" terminology, but after a long period of reading the same anti-woman dreck over and over in tech-related blogs one feels responsible to point it out on occasion. To suggest that the existence of more extreme cases of misogyny supersede the need to make note of lesser cases is a weak and breathless deflection. The idea that any criticism is "outrage" may make you feel justified in your sensitivities, but doesn't take away from my initial assertion. As I attempted to say elsewhere my problem is not that the analogy fails to be gender neutral, but that it is boring.
- cobrausn 14y ago
  No, but cases of actual misogyny do supersede the need to make note of potential maybe misogyny due to omission during a personal anecdote. In other words, don't cry wolf. I am supportive of the cause and I'm getting annoyed at seeing it thrown around so casually. Now imagine it from the perspective of someone who isn't as supportive.