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GuitarBizarre · 02-06-2016, 11:42 AM

ITT: People who don't really quite understand what sexism is, discuss whether something they have a vested interest in, might be sexist.

I wrote this nearly a year ago, but I wrote it mainly to help people understand that sexism isn't something people know they're doing. It's an insidious thing that says "What do you mean? This is normal. That means it's not wrong, right?"

Quote:

Saw a post earlier today that A friend commented on, where some guy was lamenting the idea that if a white guy starts a fight with a black guy, they're automatically considered as racist, even if the fight had nothing to do with race.

I can kind of understand that view - nobody should be accused of hating a group just because they have a problem with one of it's members, but the conversation very quickly skewed away from that and into a discussion about how white people are being attacked using the race or religion card.

That's not really ok. That's white priveledge talking and saying that it doesn't want to consider that groups that are marginalised might not just be crying wolf about the hardships they ultimately go through. Maybe each individual case isn't always about race. Maybe the black guy who got mugged by the white guy lost his wallet because the white guy was just a greedy **** who wanted money, rather than an undercover KKK agent.

But those isolated incidents don't contribute to the greater point, which is - Society normalises and reinforces a lot of beliefs and ideas that are much, much more in favour of the white, heterosexual, non-transgender (cisgender) male, than any other group. And as a result, white cisgender heterosexual men, simply don't have a lot of the concerns in life that people who don't occupy that group have to deal with.

The key point, I think, is to consider the idea that what you think of as completely normal, isn't actually always as "Right on" as it seems. Nobody is attacking white cishet men for being white cishet men. They are saying that white cishet men have a responsibility to challenge the entrenched social attitudes that they can easily see are bull****.

Think of it this way. We know that men and women really aren't that different. And we know that women can do all of the same jobs just as well unless the requirement for that job is specifically gender related. You can argue that women aren't naturally as strong as men or whatever, but honestly, that's bull****, there's no shortage of women out there who work hard, physical jobs or go to the gym and would flatten either you or me. Unless you're talking "Olympic competition" levels of fitness, there's no logic in considering genetics. And even then, mine and your genetics would probably stop either of us holding a candle to an olympic athlete of either gender. Those people's physical capacities are insane, and the genetics of heredity have a lot more to do with that than the genetics of gender.

And yet, for some reason, it's still kind of gratifying, as a man, to be in a position where you can put on a bit of machismo and blokey swagger. Why?

The answer is, society isn't quite as equal as we think it is. There's a lot of attitudes people just internalise and never question. Being able to "Man-mode" something and draw on that machismo is reassuring because society will turn around and say "That's how a man should be, good job".

National pride is the same. Seeing a British person do well in the olympics has nothing to do with you or me. We didn't help them do it, and they didn't do it for us. But there's still that weird sense of pride when that national identity lets us steal a bit of that pride for ourselves.

It's ridiculous and there's no reason for it, but actually, it's really hard not to do it, because it's a behaviour that's totally reinforced, universally, across our society. I just explained why it's all bull****, and I *still do this ***** because it's a really entrenched set of behaviours. I will probably always do this ****, because it feels good to have society at your back saying "Well done". That said, I make the effort to NOT do this **** where it counts and where it might affect other people negatively.

Do you really think that sort of stuff doesn't cross over into the way we think about race and religion?

- As a straight white male you are always in the majority. You never have to worry about the police profiling you. You don't have to worry about the WBC picketing funerals or organising rallies against you, and you don't have to worry that a place of employment might pass you up for a job, promotion or opportunity based on the idea that a man is traditional for the role. You don't have to worry that being gay or transgender might make you a target for violence or mockery. You can literally turn any concern for that kind of thing completely off and not care. Society's attitudes will let you make the sexist joke with your blokey mates, it'll let you make the ****** joke in the company of your white friends, it'll let you make the tawdry comment about chicks with dicks, it'll probably even let you make that wisecrack about topping and bottoming. For that matter, it's kind of scary how totally OK people are with joking about rape, or using it as an intensifier - Saying you won't just beat someone, but "Totally rape them at something", is accepted in a lot of places by a lot of groups, and holy **** that's actually really ****ed up. And odds are as a white male, nobody will call you on it and say "Come on that's being a bit of a dick, isn't it?"

Look at black culture. When people talk about black-on-black violence in gang culture in the USA, the call goes out to "Leading Black Figures" to decry the actions. Look at religious violence. It's never good enough that muslims, jewish people, sikhs, etc, decry and speak out against acts of violence comitted by extremists under the guise of religious fervor - there's always a media presence asking the larger denominations of those groups to speak out against it and do something.

The unspoken rule in those situations is "Black people, this is your problem, fix it" or "Muslims, this is your doing, stop them".

Contrast the KKK - they're the western white christian equivalent to organisations like ISIS or Al Qaeda - They exist to promote a highly problematic, violent agenda against groups they don't like. Substitute "The west" or "America" with "Black people and gays" and you pretty much get the idea of how similar their views are to those of ISIS etc.

When the KKK do something, they're shunned - for being the KKK. There are no calls for "White community figures" to speak out about the growing problem of "white gang culture".

And that's entirely the issue. That's white priveledge. Having an advantage or lack of concern that's so completely entrenched in the way society works that it actually takes a bit of thinking in order to EVEN REALISE IT MIGHT BE WRONG.

And when people challenge that idea, I won't lie, they tend to be dicks about it. They tend to be aggressive, dismissive pricks - because that's people for you. They aren't that smart and would rather fight the power than try to get someone onside. But honestly, nobody is attacking white people for being white people. They are attacking the entrenched and normalised attitudes that allow white people to completely ignore a lot of the problems people who AREN'T white heterosexual males have to deal with.

Comprende?

Metal is ****ing full of things like this. That's why people like Rob Halford were so worried about coming out as gay, long after most other professions made that acceptable (If, still discriminated against in secret)