Linkspam: A really, really good metaphor for explaining "privilege" of many types.

[nenena]

On the difference between Good Dogs and Dogs That Need a Newspaper Smack.

Definitely read through the whole thing. I love this metaphor now.

(I would not, however, recommend reading the comments.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

oh wow, that was really well written and insightful, thank you so much for sharing.

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

Great read, thanks for sharing!

[aiwatan.livejournal.com]

Really good indeed.

And since it is good I prefer not reading the comments after your warning. I like the pleasant feeling of reading the article.

[lollapalooza108.livejournal.com]

This is really awesome, thank you for posting this!

I feel compelled to linkspam this to everyone I know...

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I would advise linkspamming with discretion. The blogger is getting concern-trolled really badly in the comments.

[lollapalooza108.livejournal.com]

Not to worry, I will.

*sigh* oh, internet concern-trolls...

Woe is me, another male disagree...s

[(Anonymous)]

Seeing as the link is somewhat dated and the blogger no longer visibly active, I'd like to discuss that post here, if I may.

First, I'm a guy. Just so my biases are clear. Also, haven't read the comments, no idea what's going on there.

So I do see a number of a problems with the post. The first and foremost, however, has to be the somewhat awkward implication that catcalls and whistling are 'naturally' male. I say this not in this sense that they're not 'naturally' female but rather in the sense that the blog seems to indicate that it's normal for males to engage in that sort of behavior: they're not doing it maliciously, it's just what comes naturally to them.

Um. Really?

Re: Woe is me, another male disagree...s

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Seeing as the link is somewhat dated and the blogger no longer visibly active, I'd like to discuss that post here, if I may.

You can, but FTR if you really want to write a substantial response to the post, it would be much more polite for you to do so on your own blog or journal, rather than hijacking the comments on a post by a third party (me) who's just linking to the original post for signal-boosting purposes.

Now, in response to your actual comment:

1. Talk about missing the forest for the trees!!!

2. Did you even read the post? No seriously, did you? The argument is NOT that catcalls and whistling are "naturally" male. In fact, the basic feminist position always has been and always will be the EXACT OPPOSITE of that idea. There is nothing naturally male about catcalls or whistling, just the same as there is nothing "naturally male" about any form of sexism. Men are not pigs, and sexist behavior is always learned behavior, not "natural" behavior.

But now this is where the concept of privilege comes in. Sexist behavior among men may be learned behavior, but it is also incredibly widespread. Most men learn from other men that catcalls and whistling are acceptable male behaviors. It's basic socialization. And until they learn otherwise, they have no reason to think that there's anything unacceptable about catcalls or whistling.

This is where the blog post's metaphor comes in. The blogger's argument is NOT "it's natural for men to do sexist things and they can't help it," but rather "some men do sexist things because that's what they've always been taught to do until somebody points out that what they're doing is harmful." At that point, how the man reacts to this sudden cognitive dissonance is where the title of the post comes in. Good men (i.e. good dogs) will re-evaluate their behavior, but bad men (bad dogs) won't.

And funnily enough, it's often the bad dogs men who end up arguing that "well men just can't help being sexist, it's natural!" Which any feminist - or any person who thinks that men have more than two brain cells to rub together, actually - will tell you is bullshit. It's ironic that it's always the most sexist men who try to argue that male sexism is natural/inevitable, whereas it's the feminists who argue that men don't have to behave in sexist ways. Because it's the feminists who actually respect men enough to expect them to behave with basic decency.

And anyway if you walked away from that post thinking that the blogger was actually saying that catcalls and other sexist behaviors just come naturally to men, you seriously need to re-read the post, because the blogger was actually arguing the exact opposite.