Letters to the Editor
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JohnCorvo and suffering contests
This a very good point. An earlier poster (page 3ish?) mentioned that racism in America has only been around 300 years while sexism is age-old.
I found this a little silly because racism isn't just about melanin levels--it's about class, culture, and human tendency to form In/Out Groups. Minority groups of people have been oppressed and brutalized for a very long time, too. This is the basis of the story of the Good Samaritan.
That said, though, how many women have been beaten and raped (often by their spouses, partners)? How many have been held virtual prisoner by violent men and/or social norms? How many had their feet bound, their clitorises removed? How many have been rudely or even kindly steered away from fulfilling their potentials because they were born female?
But this is the thing with suffering contests. They always come down diminishing the suffering (and thus "authenticity'?) of the fellow contestant.
I don't have the answer, but maybe we could come up with a way to discuss the complex realities of our world in a way that isn't constantly forming new In/Out Groups.