shag carpet bomb wrote:
>
> i wonder why no one gets in a huff over anti-sexism?
I don't know. When each new 'ism' was iintroduced over the years, beginning with "sexism,"I reacted negatively because each time it seemed to me that the label obscurred differences in the matter being described. But in each case it also became clear that alternative labels (male chauvinism, homophobia) also raised problems.
Racism and sexism are differently expressed and embodied. Women never raised a slogan attacking separate restrooms or had to demand the right to sit in whatever part of the theatre they chose. And while the tone of an all male converssation varies from that with both genders, as does the tone of an all-white conversation as copared with a multi-racial setting, different descriptions would be needed of what the differencne was. And J. Edgar Hoover woul never have said that you can tell a Communist because he is comfortable with women! And while I've encountered those who wanted to talk about "female nationalism," the metaphor simply won't work. But Black Nationalism was and is burning issue.
So the two ISMs work differently, but that doesn't answer your question because I don't know what the differences raise thequestion.
Carrol