Who gets to decide if it's harassment? Or racism?
Pity poor Governor Cuomo.
He WASN'T "harassing" those women! He would have KNOWN if he was harassing them! He would have been, like, saying to himself, "A-ha, a woman! I am going to assert my superior patriarchal male dominance over her now, by making a remark about strip poker!", and HE DIDN'T SAY THAT TO HIMSELF! What he said to himself was, "Hey, let's let her know I like her by making a remark about strip poker!"
And she TOTALLY misinterpreted that.
And pity the co-worker who asked their new colleague, who has distinctly Asian features, where they are from.
Co-worker WASN'T "being racist"! They would have known if they were being racist. They would have said something like "Ha-ha, (insert racist slur here), do you need chopsticks with your hamburger or can you use a fork?" THAT would be racist, right? And the co-worker totally DID NOT SAY THAT! What they were INTENDING to do was, like, be friendly- find out more about this exotic-looking new colleague in a FRIENDLY way, right?
So that sour look and the sarcastic "Piscataway New Jersey" response was totally out of place.
Because everyone knows, the burden of figuring out whether that remark, or that action, was based in misogyny, racism, etc., is on the person who experiences it that way, to plumb the depths of the remark-maker or action-taker's INTENTION, and determine whether they are really basically a good person who doesn't MEAN to be a racist moron or a misogynist dickhead, or are legitimately and intentionally acting out a racism or misogyny OF WHICH THEY ARE TOTALLY AWARE, and thus engaging in inexcusable harassment or racism.
::sigh::
Because no way we should be demanding white people, or guys, or whatever, to do the work of LEARNING ABOUT RACISM/MISOGYNY/ETC. as it is experienced by the people victimized by it, and understanding their own privilege, and policing their own remarks and actions.
Oh, fuck no.
That would be TOTALLY unfair.
sourly,
Bright
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