[Noisebridge-discuss] Some interesting thoughts on "benevolent sexism"

Naomi Most pnaomi at gmail.com
Sat Apr 6 23:07:19 UTC 2013


This is what I call Digital Phrenology.



On Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 1:18 AM, Gavin Knight <gnnrok at gmail.com> wrote:

> Did you see this article 2 days ago anyone?
>
> http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/surprising-differences-between-male-and-female-brain200
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 12:05 AM, Naomi Most <pnaomi at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Or a Dick, perhaps.  :D
>>
>> Yeah, the analogy was a stretch, but I went ahead and made it anyway.
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 11:15 PM, macegr <garrettmace at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Actually, I think it's more accurate to say that now I understand a
>>> little bit of how it feels to be a Tom, Dave, Bill, or John. :)
>>>
>>>
>>> On Apr 5, 2013, at 9:16 PM, Naomi Most <pnaomi at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Heh, now you know something of how a lot of us women felt when getting
>>> on the internet a decade or more ago (and for many, even still).  I have
>>> been using neutral-gender online handles since 1995.
>>>
>>>  --Naomi aka nthmost aka venix aka 101101 ...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 7:48 PM, Garrett Mace <garrettmace at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm not happy with the risk that anyone might confuse me with Garrett
>>>> Smith, since it appears we have some major differences in many viewpoints
>>>> despite having the same uncommon first name. I am going to come up with a
>>>> pseudonym to use on this list as I'm no longer comfortable using my own.
>>>>
>>>> --- Garrett Mace, (non-jerk)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 5, 2013, at 4:22 PM, Lyra <elevin at MIT.EDU> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Naomi, you are of course welcome to keep fighting with him. I just
>>>> don't find that fun or useful, so I won't.
>>>>
>>>> Rachel Lyra! Very true. That being said, we can (and should) work to
>>>> improve ourselves and our world simultaneously. It seems there are
>>>> different hosts benevolent (or not so) sexism may reside in and different
>>>> ways to combat it in each case.
>>>>
>>>> For ourselves, the hard part is noticing. This would be made far easier
>>>> if it were more socially okay for people to call us out on such behavior.
>>>> For example, a friend mentioned to me that when I used the word 'dick' for
>>>> a mean person, I was  reinforcing the idea of men being synonymous with
>>>> jerks. I'm glad he was comfortable with telling me that, as it gave me the
>>>> opportunity to change my behavior in some small, positive way.
>>>>
>>>> Rational people whose opinions we care about can be reasoned with and
>>>> irrational people who's opinions carry no personal value can be ignored.
>>>> But what about people who hold these beliefs unreasonably and for some
>>>> reason, their opinion must be worked around (policy makers, cultural
>>>> leaders, teachers, bosses, investors...)?
>>>>
>>>> Lyra Rachel Levin
>>>>
>>>> Sent en route, pardon the brevity.
>>>> On Apr 5, 2013 4:07 PM, "rachel lyra hospodar" <rachelyra at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for this, Lyra!  I think there are a bunch of good ways to move
>>>>> forward on issues of embedded sexist behaviors.  Ultimately the question of
>>>>> what to do next depends on who the speaker is.  We all have work we can do
>>>>> within ourselves, and the old advice about tending to the beam in one's own
>>>>> eye first rings pretty true here.  Sometimes I think the most fruitful
>>>>> thing for most of us to do is to encourage the normalization of a critical
>>>>> analysis and discussion of these issues, as a normal and rational part of
>>>>> public discourse.
>>>>>
>>>>> R.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 4/5/2013 4:01 PM, Lyra wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> So I tend to just write off people like Garrett Smith - their opinion
>>>>>> is
>>>>>> not useful or valid to me so why waste cycles feeding the trolls?
>>>>>> However, Merlin's link on Stereotype Threat clarified what is bad
>>>>>> about
>>>>>> that behavior. This isn't a small, vocal, but ultimately powerless
>>>>>> group
>>>>>> that thinks this way. This is a lot of people, some very intelligent,
>>>>>> some very powerful.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Instead of bothering with this  fruitless argument with Garrett, let's
>>>>>> look at ways we can combat the source of the problem. Calling people
>>>>>> out
>>>>>> on unnoticed bad behavior is one way. Pro active and empowering
>>>>>> education opportunities are an excellent one too (for adults and
>>>>>> especially for children). Further thoughts?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Lyra
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sent en route, pardon the brevity.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Apr 5, 2013 3:46 PM, "Danny O'Brien" <danny at spesh.com
>>>>>> <mailto:danny at spesh.com>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Naomi Theora Most
>>> naomi at nthmost.com
>>> +1-415-728-7490
>>>
>>> skype: nthmost
>>>
>>> http://twitter.com/nthmost
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Naomi Theora Most
>> naomi at nthmost.com
>> +1-415-728-7490
>>
>> skype: nthmost
>>
>> http://twitter.com/nthmost
>>
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>>
>


-- 
Naomi Theora Most
naomi at nthmost.com
+1-415-728-7490

skype: nthmost

http://twitter.com/nthmost
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