NEWSFLASH: Just because something makes some wo/men uncomfortable, does not make it sexist.
When Dime Magazine published its list of 22 20 “Girls on Twitter Who Know Their Basketball (and Look Great)” online, there was predictable backlash and accompanying “sexist” accusations. Just how great these “girls” look and/or just how well they know basketball is not my concern; it’s the [errant] allegation of sexism that intrigues me.
sex·ism: \ˈsek-ˌsi-zəm\ noun (via MW)1 : prejudice1 or discrimination based on sex; especially: discrimination against women2 : behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex
Today I experienced a “can’t make this stuff up” random intersection of my #OnHere and #IRL worlds colliding. Within hours of celebrating women who transcended barriers of all sorts- including gender- to excel, I find myself writing a mini-treatise on what sexism is[n’t], to me.
- …Prejudice. Wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it goes. [↩]
