On 7/19/2013 4:35 AM, Thomas Morton wrote:
Hi Sarah,
I hope you're not implying I was rejecting it out of hand :) I'm being
fairly thoughtful about this, but I think Katherine didn't handle her
concerns well, and I wanted to communicate that as pleasantly as I could.
Most sexism is so subtle that it's hard to react to unless there's an
obvious possible indicator, like the mention of the word "body" . It
is more often practiced as ignoring comments and especially criticism
from an editor perceived as female, being more hostile to comments from
editor perceived as female than one perceived as male, claiming an
editor perceived as female is being hostile for even the tiniest bit of
insensitivity or even levity while ignoring or even supporting rank
hostility from editors perceived as male, finding some absurd excuse to
claim the editor perceived as female is sexist if she tries to point out
sexism, etc. ( "either they ignore you or attack you syndrome...")
It's a delightful relief when (usually a newbie) engages in rank sexism
because finally you have something to complain about they can't just
"pooh pooh" away!
Recently during a WP:ANI an editor being criticized mistakenly (or maybe
not in that editor's case) identified another editor who has an easily
misunderstood user name as "she" while making a rather condescending
remark. The guy had a fit and declared to the world in no uncertain
terms that he was not a female and don't you dare insult me again.
Since he and I were generally in agreement on the issues at hand, I saw
it as more amusing than upsetting. But it certainly was indicative that
some males feel they will be less credible if perceived as female.
Of course, at least with anonymous names you can call an editor him/her
and "S/he" all you want, so at least they'll be in the same boat as us,
if they do not make a disclaimer. Hmm, would it be naughty to call all
editors "she" from now on til they claim otherwise?? (I've done it a
few times to a couple editors with no response. Need a larger sample.)
CM