Posts tagged sexism
Posts tagged sexism
[TW: slurs directed toward various minorities]
One of the BEST ad campaigns about representation I have seen.
Everyone has a backbone. Use yours.
(via kaylathefunnywhore)
Because I keep seeing this, especially about feminism but about a lot of other issues, too.
Equality does not mean “treating everyone the same.” It means treating everyone fairly and yes, there is a difference. A huge one. If two people are in a race, but one starts halfway around the track and the other person starts at the start line, the first person is going to win. That’s not a fair race.
Life is similar. Women may be able to work outside the home, go to college, run for office, etc., but we still get paid less than men, we’re often treated like we’re too incompetent for our jobs, and let’s not even get started on rape culture and the current conservative movement to strip women of pretty much every right we’ve fought so hard for. These things are not equality. They’re not being “treated the same”, they’re steps towards being treated the same.
Same goes for, say, POC. Sure, they have far more rights now than they did in 1950; that still doesn’t mean they have equality. How does racism and poverty make equality, exactly? What about people like me, who are disabled? Not only are we treated differently from how abled people are treated, but obviously we start out with other disadvantages, too. We don’t start out at the same place as other people. You see?
Women don’t start out at the same place as men. POC don’t start out at the same place as white people. Transgender people don’t start out at the same place as cis people. And so on. It’s a systemic problem, one that doesn’t go away simply because some people on the internet like to scream about how we’re all equal now. We’re not, folks.
When people are, say, feminist—when they’re fighting for a cause—it’s to make everyone start on equal footing so we can all be on equal footing. For some that means changing the system so we’re all the same from birth. For others, like me, it means educating and changing views of disabled people so our disadvantages are understood and accepted, and measures are put into place to respect our needs.
Once we all have the same rights, the same respect, then we can talk about treating everyone the same. If you think we’re already there, you probably don’t have much experience with inequality.
P.S. First person to bring up misandry gets smacked through the internet with a frozen tuna. I mean it. Cranky aspie is cranky.