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d_r

(6,907 posts)
1. This is a weird kind of sexism
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 09:36 PM
Aug 2018

and I would try to argue that it sexist against women.

If this has been a 41-year-old man and a high school age girl, I don't think the headline would say that he "had a sexual relationship with student."

Some people would say that this was sexist against men. That if it was a man it would be described as rape, but as a woman it is described as a sexual relationship. And then there are the creepy people saying disgusting things about how they wished they had they had that experience.

I don't see it that way. I think it is because men have always been perceived to have more power in our society, and that perceived power differential means that a man would be guilty of rape, but since a woman doesn't have the power that man has she is in a relationship. I see it as sexist against women.

I guess that is a really weird thing to say about a story like this. But I think a lot of times we do that in our society.

Like the way we socialize children. We discourage boys from doing stereotypical traditional girl activities. Put that baby doll away, son. But we encourage girls to engage in stereotypical traditional boy activities. You go girl, that's awesome. You rock. A girl can be a pirate or a princess, and either is OK, but a boy can be a pirate. We see that as empowering girls, and it is, but it is also sexist as hell because what we are doing is saying that the traditional boy activities are an upgrade for girls and the traditional girl activities are a downgrade for boys. There are a lot of boys who could stand to practice a little compassion and caring taking care of that baby doll if you ask me.

But anyway, I guess this is a really weird response to a story about rape.

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