4 ms·
None of these things seem like problems that need to be corrected (within reason [1]). Part of being a member of a minority group is that members of the majorit
by karmacondon 12y ago
None of these things seem like problems that need to be corrected (within reason [1]). Part of being a member of a minority group is that members of the majority group will never speak or behave in exactly the way you would like. That's the nature of living in a heterogeneous society.
There will never be equal proportions of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or culture in any group. In the interest of everyone being able to work together effectively, we all have a responsibility to draw a line between preference and abuse. People who become abusive should obviously be castigated or removed for the good of everyone. But if we place too much emphasis on appeasing the preferences of every group or individual, we'll be too busy focusing on choosing just the right word in every situation to get things done. Effective communication is hard enough as it is. Parsing every word because it might potentially offend someone only makes the problem worse. Everyone has a cross to bear and no one will ever feel that they fit in perfectly. Some times toes get stepped on, and that's ok.
I think the term "unintentionally sexist" says it all. There was a time when open and aggressive *-ism was common, but that kind of thing is generally no longer acceptable in polite or professional society. It seems like the best thing for all of us would be to focus on what we have and common and what we can do to get along, instead of publishing lists of "I hate it when group X says thing Y".
[1] clearly numbers 6, 9 and 10 on this list are right out. there are several others that might not be acceptable depending on the context/wording
- tannk11001 12y agoYou're assuming a very extreme context and using it to throw out the real value that's being offered to you in this article. It's completely reasonable for a person or group to describe behaviors that make them uncomfortable, and it's especially valuable for them to do so when those offenses aren't immediately obvious. Listing these behaviors doesn't involve some fantasy that they'll all be eradicated tomorrow with subsequent violators ostracized and sent to prison. It's just sharing a real problem that's really experienced by someone. In point fact, there's almost certainly debate to be had within a community about which items have broader import and which might just be personal issues to the individual who composed the list. The value being offered to you is that you can read this and identify a few behaviors that do hurt some people, some times. And that -- as you're available and ready to exercise them -- you have a few specific changes you can make so that the people around you are more comfortable.
- cbd1984 12y ago> In point fact, there's almost certainly debate to be had within a community about which items have broader import and which might just be personal issues to the individual who composed the list. Which cannot be had as long as people feel justified in making personal attacks on the character ("racist!" "sexist!") of anyone who disagrees with them.