Sexism is pervasive. A perfect example appeared when a male Facebook friend posted a comment above a cartoon:

Great Example of Sexism

The image is a of a woman bowling. The text reads: There’s a difference between someone who goes bowling and a bowler. The latter knows who they are.

My male friend wrote at the top, “This is so true since I resemble this, well, maybe a male picture instead of a female!”

Why did he need to say a picture of a female didn’t resemble him?

There are two ways in which this is sexist.

First, there are many female athletes, but images of athletes are still dominated by men. And our sexist culture has accepted them as the norm. It has been pointed out that girls need women athletes as role models. But our culture has been slow to respond. Apparently we think male athletes should inspire females.

But in this example, the male friend points out that he “resembles this.” (I believe he’s paraphrasing the quote, “I resemble that remark.”). He’s a bowling coach, so his aspiration is to turn people who bowl into real bowlers. He tries to teach them distinctions, fine points, make them aware of their stance, position, balance, breathing, swing, all the details of their movements, plus their attention and intention. But then he remarks on the sex of the bowler in the image. It’s a non-sequitur.

Sexism has sex be most important

Of course, we might think he’s just talking about looks, since he says that he “resembles this.” Still, he didn’t mention height, hair color, complexion, expression, clothing, facial hair (or lack thereof), or weight. Would a random male really resemble him better? Or is he just pointing out that we’re so attuned to a person’s sex that it’s more important than everything else?

Blind Spots

Sexism is hard to change because it largely occurs in our blind spots. Our cultural attitudes gives it a place in our society. We don’t realize the “place’ is culturally determined. We think it’s “natural.” But it’s not- it’s determined by our view.

Similarly, our notions of politics are not “natural.” And while we want our politicians to be accountable, political accountability is also in our blind spot. Once you see that, you’ll be able to join us and make our political system truly accountable.