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LM1985's avatar

It’s been long apparent to me that discussions of sexism and racism in public discourse are crude to the point of uselessness. When someone calls someone else a racist, the interpretation of the term is that one is being accused of “not being nice” or “being a bad person.” This is in keeping with our hyper individualistic society, where the assumption is that there are no systemic problems, just individuals making good or bad choices. Therefore, if one doesn’t consider oneself to be racist, all you have to do is “be nice.” And if you are racist because you aren’t nice every once in a while, it was just a joke, so stop complaining. In reality, racism isn’t a matter of an individual intent of “being nice,” but is the result of systems shaping implicit and explicit actions.

Sexism is a bit different, since a lot of self-proclaimed liberals will fall into sexist behavior and thought patterns simply because patriarchal thinking is the default in society (eg having women do domestic labor without consciously agreeing to such an arrangement). But once again, people tend to boil it down to individual behaviors and not societal patterns. Lots of people seem to think that just “being a gentleman” is enough to combat sexism, when gentlemanly behavior was always aimed at certain classes (and races) of “respectable women.” The idea that systemic problems can be reduced by just “being nice” seems to be given by liberals and conservatives.

In and of itself, I think that willingness to vote for a Black woman for president is meaningless. Putting women and minorities in institutions soaked in white supremacy and sexism doesn’t change the nature of those institutions, it just socializes these exceptional cases into being part of the problem. I guess it would have been great for Harris as an individual if she had become president, but it wouldn’t have done much for the rest of us. The politics of representation essentially mean that we’re supposed to get off on psychological benefits, rather than material ones.

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Clio, Muse of History's avatar

This is brilliant.

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