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Re: Is racism worse than sexism? Your choice of evils
Cal Eastman (shiva@FREENET.SCRI.FSU.EDU)
Wed, 4 Jan 1995 10:12:26 -0500
michelle uses an phrase here i personally hate: "people of color"
somwhere along the lne colred people was deemed innappropriate, but
people of color is ok? i really dont get it. Personally oive never seen
someone without color, but then again, if they had no color, how would i
see them in the first place?
now of course to i stop reading what michelle wrote because i find the
phrase offensive? does it invalidate what michelle has to say? Do i
propose we censure michelle, and regard her as an anti caucasion because
she denies them the right to color?
of course not.
peace
Boom shiva
mahalinga nataraj
:)
(puffiness 4evah)
On Tue, 3 Jan 1995, Michelle B. Golden wrote:
> Hello, all.
>
> This argument (which is "worse", racism or sexism) is IMHO not at all useful
> for many many reasons.
>
> One of the most obvious (to me) is that it sets up a false dichotomy
> between "women" and "people of color." Brings to mind the eloquent title
> of the Smith, Hull and Scott anthology, _All the Women Are White, All the
> Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies._
>
> Instead of ignoring the existence of people at the intersection of both
> racism and sexism while arguing over which is worse, maybe we should be
> trying to uncover and articulate the connections between these and other
> forms of oppression. (as I'm writing this, I'm thinking, I can't BELIEVE that
> this argument is even taking place! Don't we who are concerned with these
> issues have better uses for our time than arguing over this stuff?)
>
> Can we, as anthropologists, see any relevance in the pattern of this
> discussion (from concern with sexist language to this argument)? I've
> been on vacation, so I'm sure I missed a lot of this, but I wonder if it
> is more comfortable for us to read about this racism vs. sexism
> argument than to be constructively challenged on either or both issues.
>
> Cheers.
>
> Michelle (mgolden@unix.cc.emory.edu)
>
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