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Allen on race, Webb on women
The Virginia candidates for the U.S. Senate debate.
Tim Grieve [2006-09-18]

  • Sexism?

    Webb's gender problem? Writings about women in the military, including a 1979 magazine article, titled "Women Can't Fight," in which he called a Naval Academy dorm housing 4,000 men and 300 women "a horny woman's dream."

    This is an odd choice of quote to use to illustrate sexism, because taken out of context -- read on the surface -- it's logically true. A gender ratio of nearly 1:50, in a stressful program populated mostly by young people, is of course going to be appealing to "horny" people of the underrepresented gender.

    Is it sexist because it's inappropriate to think that woman can be "horny" too?

    Is it sexist because it suggests that women in military school might be interested in sex?

    Or is it sexist because it's used to support the argument that "women can't fight"? Since the quote is taken out of context, it's hard to say how it connects to the argument.

    Sure, the statement is crude, but isn't insisting that women should never be considered in this light a kind of reverse sexism?

    -- kreniigh
    [Read kreniigh's other letters]
    Monday, September 18, 2006 08:27 AM
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