Sexism

Ms. Sarah Anderson: Thank you for your comment. I think perhaps you may be a bit hypersensitive. But whether you are or not, your comment has made me reflect upon the issue of sexism and my own history of it.

First, my description of two different women I have known was certainly not intended to be a blanket condemnation of all women. Based upon my own experience I believe it is true that women in general are much more interested in cookbooks than are men. I cannot see why pointing out this simple fact is sexist. I'm sure women are far more interested in cosmetics than men but I do not interpret that as sexist. Similarly, I am sure that men are in general more interested in hunting than women but, again, I do not regard that as sexist. There is nothing inherently sexist about the fact that women have different interests in some ways, than men. While I admit I could be wrong, I believe that in general women spend more time on the phone than men, they are more interested in cooking and kitchens (and even bathrooms) than men, they read more, perceive more colors, and diet more often than men. I do not believe that any of these things imply that women are in any way inferior to men, but they are different.

When I was a young man I was a sexist. All the other males I ever knew were sexist. I guess there could have been some gay males that were not, but I never knew any gay males, or if I did, I didn't know it. Similarly, where I was raised I never knew any black people, Asians, Hispanics, or Jews. There weren't any, or if there were I didn't know it. I'm sure my sexist views followed me into College.

But eventually all my views on such things began to change, however slowly. This was especially true after I began to study anthropology. As an anthropologist I have tried to be as objective as possible about all people and cultures. I believe that one hundred percent objectivity is impossible but nonetheless we should try. My own attempts were certainly challenged by the time I spent in the New Guinea Highlands.

In the course of my fairly long life I have seen many examples of blatant sexism. For example, as a faculty member I have seen a woman discouraged from going on for a Ph.D. for no reason other than the fact that her husband was doing so (and in spite of the fact she had a better academic record than he did). I objected to this but was unable to stop it. I have known at least three women who were advised not to pursue careers who went on to become Ph.D.'s. My wife is one of these. She has a Ph.D. in anthropology. When we first moved here to Bonners Ferry a woman we met, upon observing our extensive library, gushed, "Your husband must be very smart." Another person called and asked for me because he wanted some information about anthropology. This kind of stuff happens all the time. Sexism, plain and simple, and women are sometimes just as guilty of it as men. I also knew a woman Ph.D. who, when answering the phone, would be told they wanted to speak to her mother! Thus it grieves me to be accused of sexism.

I firmly believe in equal rights, equal pay, equality in all cases where equality is possible. I think that for a bunch of elderly, mostly white males (helped, alas, by a number of women) to try to tell a woman what to do with her body is not only sexist, but simply absurd. I would vote for a woman as President (although not automatically). In short, I have tried very hard to overcome my sexist background. But I still think it is interesting (and sort of funny) that a woman I knew, who was a terrible cook, had so many cookbooks and kitchen gadjets. And I could never adjust to a diet of bacon wrapped bananas and boiled tongue.

Zorba, of course, was a genuine sexist.

LKBIQ:

"The automobile has not merely taken over the street, it has dissolved the living tissue of the city. Its appetite for space is absolutely insatiable; moving and parked, it devours urban land, leaving the buildings as mere islands of habitable space in a sea of dangerous and ugly traffic."
James Marston Fitch.