[UA] UA unintenionally sexist? (LONG!)

[Patrick O'Duffy]

Liam Routt wrote:

> I've not been entirely certain why saying that she "doesn't get it" has
> you all fussed the way it does. It is *clear* that she doesn't understand
> the game the way those who are championing it do, and in that respect she
> *does not get it* - ie. does not understand the nature of the game in the
> same way those who are discussing it on this list do.

Because I think it implies there is 'something to get' - some quality of the game that
is only accessible to a certain type of person.

The "doesn't get it" argument, from my POV, handwaves away real discussion.  It's an
inferrence that the person is lacking in some critical faculty, and that they're not
really worthy of full discussion.

> It has to be said that this is an awfully depressing attitude. Could it
> not be that some people *have* managed to rise above those instincts?

Or at the very least, that many of us stive to overcome these instincts, and
occasionally succeed.

> I know I, for
> one, was not too impressed at being lumped into such an obviously inferior
> group by an outsider who seemed not to really comprehend the underpinings
> of UA.

'Outsider'?  I know what you mean, but I can't help but be perturbed by the
connotations of that word.  This list isn't a tribe, or a family; we shouldn't be
acting to exclude others.

--
Patrick O'Duffy, Brisbane, Australia

Sumo is the most perfect of sports.  It has elegance, ceremony, danger,
art, speed, and, most important, two fat bastards smacking the shit out
of each other.

 - Spider Jerusalem, TRANSMETROPOLITAN #26



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