From: mec6@quads.uchicago.edu (rini)
Subject: Re: Elle MacPherson causes rape?
Reply-To: mec6@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 02:43:35 GMT

"Amy Young Leith" <alyoung@kiwi.ucs.indiana.edu> writes:
>fletcher@rtf.bt.co.uk (Catherine Fletcher) writes:

>>By the way, anyone who has the slightest grasp of what sexism is and doesn't
>>understand why an Elle calendar is offensive and harmful and a Chippendales
>>calendar isn't probably has no aptitude for complex thought - therefore I
>>am resorting to condescending insult rather than reasoned explanation.
 
>Instead of throwing insults, perhaps you could just support your own
>opinions... there IS a difference between the two?  If so, what is it?

An article I read recently prompts me to take a stab at this.

The article was about the reaction in Orange County to the LA riots.
At a public meeting, a white man stood up and said, "If it black officers
had been acquitted of beating a white man by an all black jury, would
there be riots of white people now in Orange County???  Would whites 
be out there turning over cars in protest?"  

The answer is, of course, no.  Why?  Is it because whites are somehow
morally superior?  Is it because whites tend to be pacifists?  Is it
because whites are more likely to get out their frustration by writing
to their congressmen? I don't think that's it at all.

Rather, I think there's an argument to made for the idea that even
if the Orange County residents thought that a great injustice had 
been carried out through racism, it would merely be one strange *quirk*
in a system which otherwise, from their perspective, treats people okay
the vast majority of the time.   

In other words, we just don't start out on an even playing field.
Especially not when you talk about things loaded with symbolic meaning.

Take the bumper sticker "Die Yuppie Scum."  Lot's of folks think it's 
funny.  Even some yuppies think it's funny.  Heck, it's even funnier
when it's on, say, a nice new Volvo.

Now imagine the bumper sticker "Die Ghetto Scum."  Heck, imagine it
on a nice new Volvo.  It's just not funny anymore.  No, it's really sad.

But think about it!  It's a the same damn sticker with only the 
*subject* changed!  Yet that *alone* changes the whole emotional meaning 
of the verb and the adjective, and the implications are very different.

Men and women, similarly, are not value free terms.  Think of all the
double standards we have in this society.  If I gossip about a woman
sleeping around, it's generally a mark against her character.  If I
gossip about a man sleeping around, it's generally a reason to admire
his prowess.  Same act, different name (male or female) -- totally 
different implications can follow.  That's the very nature of the sexist
world we live in.

On these grounds, I think one could also argue that a Chippendale's 
calendar also means a very different thing in our society than
a swimsuit calendar.  I'm pretty sure they do mean different things
to your average Joe and Jane Doe.  (Note that I'm not interested in 
debating if one is harmful and the other is not -- it's not real clear
cut to me.  I'm no semi-nude calendar expert!  I don't really have
much of a clue as to what the two types of calendar "mean".)

But, anyway, yes, I think sexism and racism are two way streets. 
Women can be prejudiced against men (and women, for that matter). 
Blacks can be racist against whites too.  But at the same time... 
if a bunch of black people burn a cross in a white family's yard... 
it just don't carry the same impact as it does in the KKK organized
cross-burning scenario (which we all know how to interpret).

So maybe it's good to say that "sexism is a two way street, but different
types of cars go north than go south..." (??)   (Hmm -- I'm no Ross
Perot.)

Does that make any sense?

rini
Newsgroups: soc.men,soc.women,alt.abortion.inequity,talk.abortion,alt.feminism