# Do you perceive increased sexism/racism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383 "2017-08-12T00:07:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/1 "2017-08-12T00:07:06Z")
During a conversation with my wife and daughter, they both commented that they perceive increased overt sexism since Trump’s election. I agreed, but also suggested that I observed a pushback among the men I work and socialize with, where guys seem to increasingly and openly talk/act critically of sexism/racism, seemingly in reaction to what they perceive coming from their president and his least enlightened supporters. Both wife and daughter questioned whether what I perceived was true, suggesting if it was, that my work/social circles represented a liberal/educated minority. Any thoughts/opinions/anecdotes one way or the other? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/2 "2017-08-12T00:12:12Z")
I haven’t personally perceived increased overt sexism or racism since Trump’s election. I believe Trump is a symptom of our social problems, not a cause of them. I think men in general are feeling more empowered than ever to speak up when women are being mistreated. I don’t think that’s a result of the election, either, but there seems to have been a significant shift over the last 5 years or so. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/3 "2017-08-12T01:42:38Z")
I feel that more people are speaking up against it instead of just letting it slide. The people who are being racist and sexist are no different than they used to be, they just feel more emboldened to express themselves. Northern racism has always been a thing - silently. Now it’s just all out on the table. I am hoping this is the “worse” part of “it will get worse before it can get better.” ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/4 "2017-08-12T01:48:31Z")
Strikes me as confirmation bias. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/5 "2017-08-12T02:38:30Z")
White nationalists marching in the streets waving Confederate flags was the last thing I thought I’d see when I moved to Virginia ten years. Up to that point, I’d spent most of my life in the Deep South, so it’s not like I was blissfully unaware of racism. But I guess I had it in my mind that Virginia was more cultured and progressive than my home state of Georgia. And while it is, it’s also full of people who don’t want to be cultured and progressive. They seem to be coming out of the woodwork lately. I have not noticed more overt sexism, but it does seem like racism is becoming more overt. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/6 "2017-08-12T03:26:49Z")
In general I perceive people hardening their stances, left, right, and middle. I’ve noticed that a handful of elderly women are suddenly and loudly anti-feminist, that’s kind of interesting. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/7 "2017-08-12T11:14:40Z")
I’m old. When I was a lad, my grandparents punished me for playing with the “Nigras” down the street. I was told “They ain’t our kind, and they need to know their place”. The town pool refused black members because of “hygiene concerns”. My first job as a mechanic was in a building with 3 bathrooms, and the owner said “We don’t serve them, send 'em elsewhere if they come around”. The first day on the job as a truck driver, the foreman said: “Remember, you’re white and I can fire you. Them lazy black boys got the government on their side, but you gotta work.” When we met, my wife still had trouble getting a car loan without a man’s signature and could be fired for wearing pants to work. To me it’s like I spent my early life staring at the sun - and you’re arguing whether the bulb in the fridge is 15 or 20 watts. I perceive no change at all. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/8 "2017-08-12T11:54:35Z")
I have not noticed a difference. But then, where I live you don’t see the kind of racism that might be more common in other parts of the country. If you don’t like non-whites (or, non-Europeans) you aren’t going to last very long around here! European-Americans are a distinct minority. > [@monstro](#): > > I have not noticed more overt sexism, but it does seem like racism is becoming more overt. OK, maybe I’m dense, but can you explain how that can be? How can it seem like X is happening if you haven’t noticed X happening? Are you saying you’ve heard of things happening, but have not actually witnessed them yourself? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/9 "2017-08-12T13:40:34Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > OK, maybe I’m dense, but can you explain how that can be? How can it seem like X is happening if you haven’t noticed X happening? Are you saying you’ve heard of things happening, but have not actually witnessed them yourself? This is what is happened in my neck of the woods yesterday: [White nationalists rally at UVA](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/us/white-nationalists-rally-charlottesville-virginia.html). Today they are supposed to be out again. They are expecting a crowd in the thousands. I haven’t been seeing any “Put the Whores Back in their Place” rallies. I don’t deny that sexism may be coming back in style. But if it is, it isn’t as “in your face” as the racism. I hope this helps you to understand what I’m saying. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/10 "2017-08-12T15:00:23Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I have not noticed a difference. But then, where I live you don’t see the kind of racism that might be more common in other parts of the country. If you don’t like non-whites (or, non-Europeans) you aren’t going to last very long around here! European-Americans are a distinct minority. > > OK, maybe I’m dense, but can you explain how that can be? How can it seem like X is happening if you haven’t noticed X happening? Are you saying you’ve heard of things happening, but have not actually witnessed them yourself? I think you may have misread the post you quoted, which says she hasn’t noticed more overt X but Y is becoming more overt ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/11 "2017-08-12T15:00:40Z")
There is certainly more mention of sexism in the media. I think it’s one of the topics the media focuses on because of Trump’s past. We have someone specific to blame now and news people really like to make those easy connections. I don’t know any men who take cues on how to treat women from the president, for either good or bad, but to listen to the TV news you’d think we all rushed into the streets to start groping women the day he was elected. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/12 "2017-08-12T15:31:09Z")
> [@Ace309](#): > > I think you may have misread the post you quoted, which says she hasn’t noticed more overt X but Y is becoming more overt My Y chromosome must be malfunctioning today. 🙂 I read that 3 separate times, and still didn’t see it until you pointed it out. Anyway, I think racism tends to be more visible than sexism. We don’t have sex-segregated neighborhoods, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/13 "2017-08-12T16:47:37Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > There is certainly more mention of sexism in the media. I think it’s one of the topics the media focuses on because of Trump’s past. We have someone specific to blame now and news people really like to make those easy connections. I don’t know any men who take cues on how to treat women from the president, for either good or bad, but to listen to the TV news you’d think we all rushed into the streets to start groping women the day he was elected. Well, I think a lot of us are really fucking freaked out by the fact that a large contingent of humans voted for a person who openly boasted about sexual assault. Again, he is a symptom of the social problem, but what he’s woken many people up to is the reality that far more people endorse this kind of thinking than we would ever want to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Amara\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7993a0/32.png) [@Amara\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amara_1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/14 "2017-08-12T17:10:35Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I have not noticed more overt sexism, but it does seem like racism is becoming more overt. This fits my experience. I’m non-white and I’ve had more people ask whether I was born here since Trump was the nominee than I’ve had in the previous 5 years. Interestingly, the spread has been about 50-50 with other non-whites asking in a sympathetic way and the other half being straight hostility from (primarily but not exclusively) whites. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/15 "2017-08-12T17:39:27Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Strikes me as confirmation bias. Possibly. The conversation took place shortly after they got back from the dump in the middle of bumfuck Michigan, where they had been respectively addressed as “Hon” and “Little lady.” 😃 Being a whit male, I’ve learned to be extremely wary of questioning a woman’s perception of sexism, or a person of color’s perception of racism. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/16 "2017-08-12T17:46:57Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Possibly. The conversation took place shortly after they got back from the dump in the middle of bumfuck Michigan, where they had been respectively addressed as “Hon” and “Little lady.” 😃 > > Being a whit male, I’ve learned to be extremely wary of questioning a woman’s perception of sexism, or a person of color’s perception of racism. I find it interesting that the women are the ones **scumpup** suggested to have confirmation bias, when your experience is also anecdotal. I don’t know why we have such a hard time, as a society, taking people seriously about their own treatment by others. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/17 "2017-08-12T18:19:46Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Possibly. The conversation took place shortly after they got back from the dump in the middle of bumfuck Michigan, where they had been respectively addressed as “Hon” and “Little lady.” 😃 > > Being a whit male, I’ve learned to be extremely wary of questioning a woman’s perception of sexism, or a person of color’s perception of racism. I am talking about white people, specifically. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/18 "2017-08-12T18:34:50Z")
Maybe it’s a South thing, but every time someone who’s black comes knocking on my house door (whether it’s a solicitation or an offer to do some gardening, or even the gardeners that do our regular lawn work), when I come to answer the door, they are standing around 15-20 feet away from the door waiting for me to open the door. And talk to me from there. Same situation, whites or latinos stand a few feet from the door, as I would expect. I presume it’s because of the desire to appear non-threatening, but it grates on me every time I see it. But it’s not a recent thing. Been going on for years. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-perceive-increased-sexism-racism/793383/19 "2017-08-12T21:14:57Z")
I’ve been binge-watching old “What’s My Line?” programs from the early 50s. The sexism and racism are rampant and un-disguised. A large part of the contestants are women doing stereotypical “men’s” jobs, and the only people of color are the very occasional black celebrities, and never on the panel.