Colour Scientist said:
She didn't say that sexist men are the majority or that men in power are automatically sexist.
You're kind of pouncing on shadows here.
Oh, I was bringing an additional criticism towards her argument. I wasn't saying that she said that but that it is a point of disagreement with her sentiment. We live in a world where if sexism and racism exists in the heart of people in control, it generally stays there or the company faces significant legal action and harm to their reputation. That men are the primary power in society by and large doesn't mean that they have all the power or even that those who are in power are inherently sexist.
This is important because for her statement to make sense, the majority of men in control also have to be sexist. Otherwise, they are a minority just like she is claiming that women are. It is sexist to draw the line at males when having this discussion because she is automatically tallying each male as a mark towards sexist control when that simply isn't the case.
I can see why this tweet would piss some people off but I'm really not getting the leap to misandry.
Wouldn't a person claiming that there is no such thing as sexism against women be called misogynist? I'm pretty sure I'd consider them as such so I'm not sure why Anita should receive special treatment just because she's a girl. The belief that men are out to get women. That we are by and large misogynist assholes bent on subjugating women is a misandrous belief.
The absolute focus her, the part that should piss people off, is that she dismisses that sexism, even institutional sexism, can occur against men.
I'm not really sure how to explain it to you. You seem to be looking at it in terms of glaring instances of discrimination or as an absolutist "everything is sexist" concept. It's a bit more nuanced and complicated than that. Institutionalised racism or sexism is about embedded ideas that have become normalised, it's more about common cultural and societal attitudes than "look at this specific institution being discriminatory."
Without examples or data it is impossible to discuss it in any meaningful way. What's more is the quality of data can be wildly different according to who you speak to. Take the Ferguson riots. On one side you'll see people claiming that a bigot cop walked up and shot an unarmed saint who had his hand submissively raise in surrender. On the other side you'll see people showing this as an example of racism in which a community wanted to put an innocent man in prison by giving false testimony that the evidence appears to prove to be false.
So, people say society is racist/sexist. How can that be discussed in any intellectually honest ways without a legitimate evaluation of society to prove that? The last I checked, hiring and wage discrimination is illegal, abortion is almost universally legalized, voting and ownership rights have been well secured by first and second wave feminists. The same goes for racial equality and while it's not the end-all answer a majority of Americans did vote for a black leader twice. I'm not sure that we can say that the institution is sexist anymore. We can really only point to specific examples that make sense. We can point to specific areas where racism and sexism hasn't been stamped out. But I'd honestly say that society as a whole abhors those things and will strip individuals of their authority if we are able if they show themselves to be bigoted. Honestly, it seems that white males would have a far harder time bringing a discrimination suit against a company than a black female would. We've seen this happen multiple times, actually. But there hasn't been a public outcry because it would make people seem sexist or racist to be too vocal about it due to the negative taint left by the generations that really were bigots by and large.
This is the kind of intellectual discourse we can have regarding her actual statement though. We need to discuss this as a society and be able to exclaim that everyone of any race or gender or religion can get the short end of the stick and it's all bad. We need to be lights rooting out and dispelling any sort of darkness wherever we find it, not casting shadows on some area to further our causes. Seriously, shame on her for this sort of unapologetic sexism. I wish her no harm or harassment in any way. But shame on her.
