mipeltaja: (JUMALAUUUTA)
Dear Finland, please stop using the word "racism" as a synonym for discrimination. Racism is discrimination, yes, but if discrimination has nothing to do with race, then it isn't racism. It's really not that complicated.

I'm not even exaggerating here. "Age-racism" just may be the most common term for ageism over here. And I know at least one person who thinks the word racism also covers sexism. Today I read an article that used the term "personality racism" to describe a situation where a less than ideal personality may prevent someone from passing an entrance exam.


And okay, racism - or rather, the Finnish word "rasismi" - is a loanword and I guess a lot of Finns don't immediately see the word "race" in there like an English-speaker would. And I suppose it's a quick and easy way to get the message of "it is wrong to hold this belief" across, because unlike many other -isms, the vast majority of people understand that racism is wrong. But the word has a specific meaning and there are already other words that mean all those other forms of discrimination that you're incorrectly filing under "racism". Learn those words. Use them.
mipeltaja: (JUMALAUUUTA)
"I do not feel that "bitches" is sexist. A bitch is a female dog. I'm pretty certain that 90% of women are confident enough in themselves to realize that they are in fact -NOT- a female dog"


I'm sorry, WHAT?

This is such a bizarre defense. The whole point of insults is that they belittle their target in some way. When people liken other people to animals, they do not do it to make the insulted party question their species, they do it to imply that they have the same amount of importance in society as an animal would.

Another claim I heard today is that "bitch" isn't sexist because it's used to insult men, too. Sure it's said to men, too, but think for a second about what the implication is when a man is called that. It implies that he is weak-willed and submissive, in other words, not in possession of traits that are considered manly. "To make someone your bitch" is to make them submit to you. The word is sexist even when used towards men, because it likens them to women (who are simultaneously likened to animals) and in order to be insulting, there needs to be an underlying notion that women are inferior to men, which is what sexism is.

Is "faggot" also not a homophobic insult because it's used towards straight men, too, and most of them are confident enough in their sexuality that they know they are not homosexual?

I just. I can't follow the reasoning of these people.

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