Thread by @AnnieGabstonH

I tweeted, a few minutes ago, about my awareness that some White people have difficulty seeing Black people as just other human beings.

I was struck by the women offering sympathy or expressing outrage.

(1)

As a Black person, I'm in the minority. As bad as it is, the ignorance of people who may be unfamiliar with folks who look like me is sort of understandable.

(2)

Women are more than half the world's population, though. There isn't a place on this planet where we aren't seen as 'different' from men, and in most of those places 'different' means 'less than' men.

(3)

A big difference in the two categories of dehumanization is that, other Black people almost universally agree that a problem exists.

On the other hand, many women agree with the status quo in regards to the treatment of women.

(4)

Things have improved. I mean, nowadays, you won't find many who think it's okay for a man to beat his wife. Still, you find few men who beat their wives in prison unless the beating was so bad as to cause death or crippling injury.

(5)

During the primaries, when Warren went after Bloomberg and chopped him into itty-bitty pieces, a lot of women complained about her behavior. The complaints often came down to their feeling that she hadn't been 'ladylike' when she expressed herself.

(6)

As an outspoken Black woman, I'm far more likely to suffer from violating societal expectations of women than from issues that arise because of the color of my skin.

That's personal to me, not at all universal, but not unusual either.

(end)

(P.S. 1)

Seeing women as 'different' isn't usually a deliberately misogynistic thing.

For example, what responsible man or woman would encourage a woman to go jogging at night in a deserted area? Even in what is seen as a safe neighborhood?

After a certain age, no one ever tells a boy that he's 'cute' but grown women are routinely told so, as if it were a high compliment. Professionally, for a woman, hair, make-up, nails and body shape can be as important as skills.

(P.S. 2)

If you have both sons and daughters, there are some behaviors that you probably feel are 'appropriate' from one that aren't appropriate from the other.

(P.S. 3)

Even men who are very aware that women are equals rarely learn not to interrupt a woman who is speaking. Pence definitely doesn't qualify as 'aware' but remember how many people complained that Harris pushed back against him?

(P.S. 4)

If you live in a mixed gender household where all the tasks are shared equally, who has the job of deciding what task needs to be done or how frequently it should be done?

(P.S. 5)

A huge number of women have been forced, by the pandemic, to leave the workforce. Because children have to be cared for at home and, of course, it's mommy's job to do it, right?

(P.S. 6)

The point is that women are different. Not because we inherently are, but because we're seen to be. The only real difference is the ability to bear a child. All the rest is imposed socially and generally accepted by women.

(P.S. 7)

"Woman" is a role that half the population is taught to play, not a real thing that should expand or limit who a person is in life.

'Man' is another role, more restrictive, but one that gives the player a power lacking in the 'woman' role.

(P.S.8)

Mostly, this isn't consciously misogynistic. It's just the way things are. We generally don't pay much attention to it because we're all used to it.

It bugs me, except when I don't notice. Like most people, I mostly don't notice.

Racial bias is much easier to see.

(P.S. end)