I’ve read that essay, it’s largely responsible for my current views (or at least made me much more vocal about them). The only issue I have with it is that it’s almost too subtle. I didn’t really get what was going on until I skipped down to the end. I sent it to a feminist friend of mine and she got annoyed with it and stopped reading before she understood what the point was.
I remember reading that article, and not being impressed. He lumps all the sexist talking points into one essay, and therefore it ends up looking like one big strawperson. He may have good points, but unfortunately his own essay undermines them.
My understanding is that the essay’s effect is via the horror a reader feels at the alternate-world presented in the essay. It opens the reader’s eyes somewhat to the degree that sexism is embedded in everyday grammar and idiom. My understanding is that it is not a persuasive essay in the usual sense.
There’s a knockdown essay on this subject by Hofstadter:
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/purity.html
I’ve read that essay, it’s largely responsible for my current views (or at least made me much more vocal about them). The only issue I have with it is that it’s almost too subtle. I didn’t really get what was going on until I skipped down to the end. I sent it to a feminist friend of mine and she got annoyed with it and stopped reading before she understood what the point was.
I remember reading that article, and not being impressed. He lumps all the sexist talking points into one essay, and therefore it ends up looking like one big strawperson. He may have good points, but unfortunately his own essay undermines them.
My understanding is that the essay’s effect is via the horror a reader feels at the alternate-world presented in the essay. It opens the reader’s eyes somewhat to the degree that sexism is embedded in everyday grammar and idiom. My understanding is that it is not a persuasive essay in the usual sense.
Please elaborate.