SEXISM

[Turing Machine Three <NPARRY -at- COLGATEU -dot- BITNET>]

Vickie, consider sexism from a behavioral view.  If we focus only on the
result, and not on the cause, we will not understand the cause very well.  I
want to suggest that the behavior, not the result be the focus of examination.

I am suggesting that sexism (a concept) is the result of numerous small,
acts committed by men and women (behaviors), and that to provide an opportunity
to change, each man and woman must see what he or she did to contribute.
Arguably, it is not the victem who has the problem, it is the victemizer.

My thesis is that more can be gained from examining the motivations and actions
of sexists (those who behave in a sexist manner) than from the objects of the
behavior, though of course part of that examination must be a dispassionate
look at "what really happened."

Did I contribute to the continuation of the behavior by my own actions or
inactions?  Am I sexist in my behavior?

My emphasis (and it is an _emphasis_, not a substitute for a multi-disciplinary
approach) is that it may be less productive to concentrate on the experience of
the victem than on the behavior of the oppressor.

As we have already seen in discussion here, the view and emphasis that I
suggest is not embraced by everyone.  But it is not unique either.  Hanna
Arendt, in _Eichmann in Jeruselem: A Report on the Banality of Evil_ is perhaps
the best known and most widely read expositor of this view.  John Milfull, ed.,
in _Why Germany_ makes a convincing statement that many of those who
contributed to the atrocities of the second world war "...were capable of
returning to 'normal,' 'moral' lives - loving their children, consoling
friends, caring for and about their parents and wives."

I do not want to suggest that sexism does not carry a momentum, or that small
acts taken together do not add up to a social problem of significance.  Quite
the contrary.  I want to suggest that externalizing the concept of sexism is a
way of avoiding personal responsibility for it.

Insofar as we regard our selves as somehow separated from the behavior, we may
feel we have insulated ourselves from it's effects.  Sexism starts at home.  It
is either mine, or it is no-one's.  That is the emphasis I present.  Is it
exclusive of all other views?  No.  Am I saying it is not useful to know the
experiences of victems.  No.  I am saying that if we want to do something about
sexism, we may first want to take inventory of our own hearts.

Norm
nparry -at- center -dot- colgate -dot- edu