Is sexism more prevalent than racism in this country?

[zanne]

I'm thinking about when people actually enter the polling booths on Primary Day here in NH. I do alot of phonebanking at Obama HQ and there have been a few women who have told me that they don't think a woman should be president. (These are older voters). I've only had two people (both young men) tell me that they wouldn't vote for Barack because he's black. What do you think?

[bettyellen]

1. i think people are more concious of- and careful to hide their racism

and a lot of people still think sexism is funny, and they are less likely to hide it. it's certainly true of this place.

[Lucinda]

2. I didn't really have an answer until I read your point

I think you're correct.

[TwilightZone]

3. "sexism is funny"

That's a very interesting point. One is certainly more likely to see gay jokes, for example, than jokes about race.

A few responses in "Trent Lott must be gay because he's a homophobe"-type threads come to mind.

[bettyellen]

8. race jokes have been taboo for as long as i can remember, but if you act offended

as a sexist joke, people react as if there's something wrong with you.

[donsu]

4. sexists/racists: twins joined at the brain

with sexism the world wide foundation and racism a local thing,

[CrispyQ]

5. The first division of our species is gender.

What is the fisrt question one asks of someone who has just had a child? Is it a girl or a boy?

So, yes, sexisim is the more prevalent concern.

[Kucinich4America]

11. I don't see that as necessarily sexist.

For one thing, you have to know which set of pronouns to use in reference to the child. I'm really bothered by someone referring to a baby as "it" myself. And there are those who would by a different gift for a boy baby than a girl baby, even if it's a matter of a different color. Not necessarily blue vs pink, but that's the most obvious example. You can argue over colors assigned to genders, I suppose, but I doubt you could link that to any argument regarding Hillary Clinton's credentials as a presidential candidate.

[CrispyQ]

13. Wow. I'm stunned. How you took my post & diluted it down to pronoun & color is beyond me.

...although, it seems that gender issues come down to pronouns & color for you. He vs she? Pink vs blue? May I suggest a few movies to expand your perceptions of gender bias in culture. Whale Rider, for instance. Water. Rabbit Proof Fence. To name a few others.

And if you really want to investigate gender issues, read "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula LeGuin. LeGuin presents some real challenges to traditional thinking regarding gender issues.

Gender is more than pink vs blue. And it's more than pronouns. And Clinton has bigger issues than gender issues in her run for president.

[jpgray]

6. Let's line up all the various kinds of bigotries, and then race 'em!

Who will be the winner? Should I worry more about Darfur genocide, or the dehumanization of women into sexual property? Let's race subcategories as well! Does the 18-25 standard of Hollywood feminine beauty deserve my ire more than female circumcision? What fun!

:bounce:
:party:
:silly:

In seriousness I think the "my oppression is worse than your oppression" game misses the fundamental point--that all forms of reflexive prejudicial oppression are bad enough. And I'm not sure that the likely effect on the election is very quantifiable.

[Adelante]

7. Sexism and racism are both alive and well

The matter of Clinton's gender, though, doesn't seem to be pushed much as an electability issue. The matter of Obama's race, of course, has been. So far, it's hard to tell what the reality is.

[booley]

9. I always thought of those things as different branches of the same tree

Classism.

Classism requires that there be a heirarchy and an underclass at the very bottom.

Both Racism and Sexism do that.

So asking me if there's more of one thing(sexism) then another (racism) is like asking me which encompasses more of my body, the right or the left half.

[no name no slogan]

10. "What's wrong with being sexy?"

[Occam Bandage]

12. From personal experience, I'd guess it is.

[Lilith Velkor]

14. Yes and no

Sexism is definitely more prevalent, as well as being more socially acceptable to express, but racism is more virulent where present.

I've been asking prejudiced people this since the '70s (if a black man ran against a white woman, who would you vote for?) and they said "the white woman" 9 out of 10 times, but that's not a scientific survey or anything.

[hayu_lol]

15. In this case, you can go with simple numbers...

54% of the population is female.

The other divisions are much smaller percentages.

The numbers would indicate then: That sexism is the most prevalent form of divisiveness.

In all cases however, the situation is much improved now than it was 40 years ago. That is progress.

[Seabiscuit]

16. I think it's more like: "six of one, half a dozen of the other". Racists tend to be sexists and v/v

[maximusveritas]

17. Not more prevalent, but more acceptable

People are more afraid of being called a racist than they are of being called sexist. Racism is now underground, but still more prevalent than sexism IMO.