Anonymous asked: Often, your posts portray women as victims, being oppressed, however unintentionally, by men and the institutional sexism that protects them. I won't deny that sexism exists in the Western World, but as a women, I'm offended by feminist perspectives that try to victimize me. I'm not a victim. Nor are my male friends and family brainwashed drones who can't help but be unconsciously sexist. What right does the feminist movement have to label all women as victims under the boot of oppression?
I’m a little stumped for how to respond. To me, it seems inherently contradictory to say that sexism exists, but to think that pointing it out is a form of victimisation.
From your question, it seems like your main objection is to the idea of sexism as an institutional problem that can be perpetuated unconsciously. Or, more specifically: you dislike the assertion that all women are potentially affected by sexism, because that reads like victimisation; and you take offense at the inference that the men in your life might ever engage in sexism unconsciously, because that’s insulting both to them and their free will.
Here’s the thing, though: it’s not victimisation to point out that the odds are, in many instances, unfairly stacked against women. And unless you think being raised within a culture - any culture - is the same as brainwashing, then saying that both men and women are capable of unconscious sexism isn’t the same as calling them drones.
If you, personally, have never experienced sexism - or anything you’d care to label as sexism - then that’s great! But that doesn’t mean institutional sexism and unconscious bias aren’t real issues. In the case of unconscious bias, I can point you to any number of studies that demonstrate just how thoroughly our brains can be shaped by stereotype, and how frighteningly often our subconscious reactions can be at odds with our consciously held beliefs. And in the case of institutional sexism, the fact that women still earn less money than men, require more qualifications to hold the same jobs as men, and are more likely to be punished at work for having children than men - and that’s just for starters! - should make a fairly compelling case for its existence.
Pointing out facts is not victimisation, and nor does feminism label all women as victims. It’s simply impossible to combat sexism without acknowledging that it exists, and how it works.
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