[WikiEN-l] Misogyny is the perfect troll

[Ray Saintonge]

K P wrote:
>>> Oh please, calling oneself a pimp as a user name and saying, "Gotta
>>> keep the pimp hand strong" is about as misogynist as it gets.   Oh,
>>> wait, it goes one better.  There's a "this user is a pimp" user box.
>>> I put it on my user page along with a thousand others, and no one
>>> gives a shit.  It's cute and something that boys do, and all the boy's
>>> friends will slam down anyone who objects to the boy proudly
>>> displaying his misogyn--so I found out
> You also might be less likely to be sensitive to it for obvious
> reasons.  There are many things that men simply don't look twice at,
> that many women would find misogynist because they look at it from a
> different angle.  I don't find the turning of "pimp" into an
> acceptable verb to be acceptable, mostly because the men who flaunt it
> seem to be using it in the old and more familiar sense, and are just
> taking advantage of, or lying about, its meaning in the vernacular.
> But many men I know who I don't think are misogynists, don't see
> anything offensive with "pimp my ride."
>   
This says more about the evolution of language.  Words adapt to the 
circumstances that use them.  When you judge the word on the basis of 
the minority that flaunt it isn't that being just a little misandrian.  
Sure men look on these things differently, and wonder what all the fuss 
was about when women want to dwell upon something that was never 
intended.  Being offended by the activities of the traditional pimp 
should not be equated with being offended by the use of the word.
> My son for example doesn't find the expression "pimp my ride" and
> related expressions offensive, and thinks I'm over-reacting that I do
> find them offended--"It's the vernacular, Mom, that language you
> adore."  Yet, he considers it offensive to call someone a pimp as a
> compliment.
>   
Sounds like a normal kid.  (age? - mine is 17)  Then too dealing with 
real pimps has probably not been  part of his personal experiences.
> My comment wasn't really about this particular comment though, but
> that it's so common on Wikipedia for me to hear and come across
> obviously misogynist exchanges--and it's tiresome to hear
> announcements of it not being present, by those least likely to
> encounter it.  It's no wonder there are so few women in the upper
> echelons on Wikipedia, imo, in a culture that is so damn accepting and
> ignorant of how it makes women outsiders.
It should tell you something that the majority of persons who have been 
elected the the Board by the community have been women. That's a neat 
trick to come from an electorate so full of misogynists.

I don't doubt that you have frequently encountered language on the part 
of others which you consider misogynistic.  If it's coming from those 
"least likely to encounter it" you have disconnect more than you have 
misogyny.  Not everybody is at the same place in the spectrum of gender 
politics.  Those of us with experience in female dominated circumstances 
are not overly concerned about the gender of the person across the table 
from us.  He or she is simply what he or she is.  Gender relations falls 
apart when you start imputing misogynistic motives that were never there.

Ec