Define your terms

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Again with the obfuscatory language.

What “discriminatory” treatment? In what sense of “discriminatory”?

We are allowed to discriminate between women and men in the sense of knowing which is which and sometimes acting accordingly. Sometimes it doesn’t matter which is which, and other times it does.

See also: children and adults. There are many circumstances in which it’s necessary to discriminate between them. Discrimination is not always or automatically invidious; it’s often necessary. Triage is discrimination. In an emergency you don’t treat the person with the scratch before the person who is bleeding out.

Humans are either one sex or the other. It’s not invidious discrimination to be clear about which is which and act accordingly.

Comments

8 responses to “Define your terms”

  1. Papito Avatar
    Papito

    I’d like to see a bunch of young folks picketing a pub for “age discrimination.” They could have one say that she “identifies as an adult.”

  2. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    My dog identifies as a cat everytime I put cat food down; that doesn’t make him a cat, and I don’t let him eat the cat food.

    Seriously, trans can ruin almost everything. We went to see Hadestown last night, and one of the fates was obviously a man, though having larger breasts than the two women. The play was still good, but it rankled. Nearly every play I see these days seems to have someone trans cast; usually it’s a TiF, but when it is a TiM, all I can see is another women’s part that is going to a man, when there are fewer women’s parts to begin with.

  3. twiliter Avatar
    twiliter

    The whole ‘pretending you’re something/somebody you’re not’ thing must be exhausting. Acting is one thing, but 24/7? Ugh.

  4. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Not necessarily, I think. Pretending is fun for some people. I did a lot of pretending as a child; it was fun rather than exhausting. I grew out of it, so I don’t know from personal experience if it’s exhausting as an adult, but I think it’s possible it just goes on being fun for some people.

  5. Jim Baerg Avatar
    Jim Baerg

    Kind of related to the topic of the post since it is about pronouns ;^)

    https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2026/07/29

  6. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Heh.

  7. Karen the Chemist Avatar
    Karen the Chemist

    Some adults do pretend, or play make-believe. At science fiction conventions, or LARPing. They do it as a hobby, or recreation, or to have fun with friends. I know people who have a personna or a character they play while at Teslacon (a steampunk convention). The personna/character, though, ‘stays at the con’.

  8. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Yes but it tends to be seen as a bit silly…a bit Sheldon and Leonard.

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