Why excuse the same being done for men? I would have said “a group based on sex”, but the people doing this definitely understand the issue when it’s women.
I think white does most of the heavy lifting there, at least in western democracies (for example being white is not a benefit in say Japan). Straight carries a bunch of the rest (and would carry more, but you can’t tell someone’s sexuality just by looking at them), and then you get down to men.
To put it another way: If I asked to to provide statistical evidence that the criminal justice system is biased against black people, you could name off a bunch of stats that you would argue present compelling evidence. If I took the same data from the same sources and broke it down by sex instead of race, it would present a similar picture of men and you’d argue that same data is suddenly meaningless because it disagrees with your model. I’d argue that the idea that society has a sex hierarchy as such is the wrong model to use entirely.
Instead, when it comes to sex it’s all about perceived agency - men are perceived to have more agency than they do and women are perceived to have less. Essentially men are seen as more “responsible” for what happens to them/what they do and women are seen as less “responsible” for what happens to them/what they do. And this cuts both ways. If a man hits a woman, even in self defense it’s his “fault” and she’s just a victim. If a woman hits a man, even in an unprovoked attack people will start by asking what he did to deserve it. Men get worse bail, higher chance of conviction, loner sentences, etc in criminal justice because they are more “responsible” for their wrongdoing than women. At the other end, men are also treated as more “responsible” for their accomplishments, in general. Which helps men reach the very top positions at a higher rate than women. If a male teacher commits statutory rape of a female student, she’s definitely a victim and it won’t be called anything but rape but if a female teacher commits statutory rape of a male student the media will often describe it as an “affair” or “romp” or similar and focus on how complicit he was with the activity. Etc, etc.
Why excuse the same being done for men? I would have said “a group based on sex”, but the people doing this definitely understand the issue when it’s women.
There’s a good chance you and I won’t ever agree on this, but let me check.
Do you believe that the current system is biased in favor of straight white men?
I think white does most of the heavy lifting there, at least in western democracies (for example being white is not a benefit in say Japan). Straight carries a bunch of the rest (and would carry more, but you can’t tell someone’s sexuality just by looking at them), and then you get down to men.
To put it another way: If I asked to to provide statistical evidence that the criminal justice system is biased against black people, you could name off a bunch of stats that you would argue present compelling evidence. If I took the same data from the same sources and broke it down by sex instead of race, it would present a similar picture of men and you’d argue that same data is suddenly meaningless because it disagrees with your model. I’d argue that the idea that society has a sex hierarchy as such is the wrong model to use entirely.
Instead, when it comes to sex it’s all about perceived agency - men are perceived to have more agency than they do and women are perceived to have less. Essentially men are seen as more “responsible” for what happens to them/what they do and women are seen as less “responsible” for what happens to them/what they do. And this cuts both ways. If a man hits a woman, even in self defense it’s his “fault” and she’s just a victim. If a woman hits a man, even in an unprovoked attack people will start by asking what he did to deserve it. Men get worse bail, higher chance of conviction, loner sentences, etc in criminal justice because they are more “responsible” for their wrongdoing than women. At the other end, men are also treated as more “responsible” for their accomplishments, in general. Which helps men reach the very top positions at a higher rate than women. If a male teacher commits statutory rape of a female student, she’s definitely a victim and it won’t be called anything but rape but if a female teacher commits statutory rape of a male student the media will often describe it as an “affair” or “romp” or similar and focus on how complicit he was with the activity. Etc, etc.