Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aero-c!nadel From: jgh1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (John G. Hardie) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: racism/sexism in all of us Message-ID: <119526@unix.cis.pitt.edu> Date: 24 Apr 91 17:30:31 GMT References: Sender: news@aero.org Organization: Nuclear Physics Lab, Univ. of Pittsburgh Lines: 48 Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Status: R Originator: nadel@aerospace.aero.org In article mjm@ahimsa.intel.COM (Marjorie Panditji) writes: >Hillel posts this quote and asks for reactions: > [...] >> being, whether intentionally or not. Specifically, this means that it >> is not open to debate whether a white student is racist or a male >> student is sexist. He/she simply is." -- From the April issue of >> "Forbes" > >I would agree with this quote. I think that as I white, I am racist [...] > >I think that we all are sexist and racist to some degree. I believe > [...] >-- >Marjorie Panditji, Intel Corporation, (503) 696-2197 >mjm@ahimsa.intel.com -or- uunet!intelhf!ahimsa!mjm Hi, I agree with you that all of us have biases. I don't think that this is the issue however. I have heard comments like the original quote in several discussions about racism/sexism and it is often followed by the assertion that whites are inherently racist, and males are inherently sexist, but blacks - being blacks - cannot be racist. Similarly for women - sexism is inherently male - you simply cannot have a sexist woman. [I believe the rationale for this is that the oppressed group lacks power, and racism/sexism can only be practiced by the opressing group. I don't agree with this, but...] I believe that the last time I saw this argument was somewhere in soc.women or soc.men. You might search these groups if you're interested. I got fed up with both of those groups and no longer read them. John -- jgh1@unix.cis.pitt.edu ... A wild display of pig farmers gone berserk