You’re a laughing, smiling male individual? Sexist pig!
by Arnt Rune Flekstad
Science suggests that men use smile and laughter to hide their inner hate of women. Or that is at least what “scientists” at Northeastern University seem to think.
The social scientists have been studying the interaction between 54 students put into 27 couples. They claim that they could identify two types of female discrimination. One where the man is showing what they call “hostile sexism”. Where the man is less friendly and laughed less during conversations with their female partner. And one called “well-meaning sexism”, where the men smiled, were more friendly and warm towards their conversational female partner.
The conclusion seems to be that men hide their sexist thoughts behind body language and humor. This supposedly allows them to spread demeaning thoughts about women without being noticed. And the idea is that people should be better trained to identify these “wolves in sheep clothing”.
”What might be considered gestures of goodwill can fool women to accept the status-quo society” – says Harvard-educated psychology professor Judith Hall.
RELATED: Study: Men who hold the door open for women are sexists. Men who don’t are also sexists.
So no matter what you do, if you behave good or bad, you might be taken for a sexist pig. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. It sound a bit far-fetched, but this whole thing makes me think of the witch hunts of old. And also a quote that Ayn Rand wrote in Atlas Shrugged:
There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
What exactly is the point of this kind of research? To root out any form of personal discrimination? Remove individual thought? The reason why we either like or dislike someone we see, talk to or work with is mainly because of our individual experiences, minds, likes, dislikes, preferences so to speak. Would the world be a better place if everyone had the same mindset? Had the same exact values? Valued everything the same way?
I don’t think I want to live in a world with robot humans, terrified of displaying any emotion toward one another. Do you?
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