3 ms·

"Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex." Talking about sex or using crude sexual humor is NOT sexism. It may be inappropriate for a pr

by bcheung 13y ago

"Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex." Talking about sex or using crude sexual humor is NOT sexism. It may be inappropriate for a professional environment (especially if kids are around) but it is not sexism; there is no discrimination nor an intent to put someone else down.

dragonwriter 13y ago
> > "Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex." > Talking about sex or using crude sexual humor is NOT sexism Creating a selectively hostile environment is a (fairly significant) legally recognized form of discrimination based on sex, and both of these can be (and not infrequently are) mechanisms that create such an environment, so it is, at best, an oversimplification to say that they are not sexism.
- bcheung 13y ago
  I agree it may be a offensive environment but how is it selective or discriminatory though? People can be offended by just about anything. Doesn't mean they are the target. Religion offends me—being around it makes me uncomfortable—but that doesn't give me the right to tell people to stop talking about.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > I agree it may be a offensive environment but how is it selective or discriminatory though? Its selectively hostile because of disparate impact due to occurring within a cultural context in which sensitivity to these issues is not even approximately evenly distributed by sex. > Religion offends me—being around it makes me uncomfortable—but that doesn't give me the right to tell people to stop talking about. Being human gives you the right to do that (just as the same thing gives other people the right to ignore you when you do, in most circumstances.) This, of course, is completely orthogonal to the question on discrimination, as something being discrimination is not a pre-requisite for someone to have a right to tell people to stop doing it.

by bcheung 13y ago

dragonwriter 13y ago

> > "Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex." > Talking about sex or using crude sexual humor is NOT sexism Creating a selectively hostile environment is a (fairly significant) legally recognized form of discrimination based on sex, and both of these can be (and not infrequently are) mechanisms that create such an environment, so it is, at best, an oversimplification to say that they are not sexism.

bcheung 13y ago
I agree it may be a offensive environment but how is it selective or discriminatory though? People can be offended by just about anything. Doesn't mean they are the target. Religion offends me—being around it makes me uncomfortable—but that doesn't give me the right to tell people to stop talking about.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > I agree it may be a offensive environment but how is it selective or discriminatory though? Its selectively hostile because of disparate impact due to occurring within a cultural context in which sensitivity to these issues is not even approximately evenly distributed by sex. > Religion offends me—being around it makes me uncomfortable—but that doesn't give me the right to tell people to stop talking about. Being human gives you the right to do that (just as the same thing gives other people the right to ignore you when you do, in most circumstances.) This, of course, is completely orthogonal to the question on discrimination, as something being discrimination is not a pre-requisite for someone to have a right to tell people to stop doing it.