Thursday, October 16, 2008

It's just the way it is

With all the talk about racism and finally (though not nearly soon enough) misogyny prompted by this year's US Presidential campaign, a particular frustration for me has been the lack of recognition of sexist attitudes and behavior.

I think this is because racist discourse is generally (not always) pretty easy to spot. Richard at TPD provides this sterling example.

Sexism, on the other hand, often goes unacknowledged because we can't always agree on exactly what it is. Because, you know, men and women are just different.

Echidne of the Snakes has written a post that looks at some very basic realities for women and frames these as human rights issues in a way that really resonated for me. It's stuff I've tried to say but never managed to articulate so clearly. Go have a look.

(H/T to Lambert at Corrente)

UPDATE: do check out the discussion at Shakesville and Anglachel's post reacting to Echidne's piece. Obviously I'm not the only person for whom this resonated.

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