# What Is The Most Egregiously Sexist Act You Have Ever Seen? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565 "2009-07-19T23:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/281 "2009-07-29T21:14:07Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > It was a joke. Christ, let it go. And it was your example. Are you honestly getting pissed at me for disagreeing that your joke didn’t prove you wanted it to and then making a crack about it? Come on. Ah, see, that’s where you messed up: jokes are supposed to be **funny**. Unless this is another attempt to backpedal and pretend that you never implied that I was a racist. Still not seeing any arguement coming out of you that amounts to more than, “Because I said so,” by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/282 "2009-07-29T22:16:08Z")
To beat a dead horse and waste more time, let’s debate which is a bigger factor in the moving of furniture: A lower center of gravity or more muscle mass. Is furniture moved more efficiently by sheer power or is it finessed using physical principles such as the lever and pushing versus pulling? I am female, and there was no moving of furniture at my school that the girls couldn’t handle. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/283 "2009-07-29T23:13:23Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I haven’t actually seen this, but it’s been in all the local papers. > > There have been a lot of allegations of corruption with the local school board and administration, centered around [Steve Raucci](http://www.nycsa.org/Communications/News_2009/N032009/Schdy_Raucci_SchGazette_Strock_03172009.html), who is now facing arson and terrorist charges for planting an incendiary device at the homes of other employees who didn’t follow his orders. Raucci left a trail of slime wherever he went, covered by the school board because he got out the vote for them. > > The most sexist part of this was [this memo](http://www.dailygazette.com/photos/2009/mar/11/8317/). It was a letter hiring a women for his department and here are some highlights: > > “Take time every day to keep your appearance pleasing to your supervisor.” > “Being attractive, sensitive and classy with a touch of sexiness are crucial to the position” > And the piece de resistance: > “Always remember that your supervisor (Raucci) is a man first and a supervisor second and he should be treated as such in that sequence.” > > This wasn’t old time-- the memo was written just over a year ago. > > The district is facing a massive sexual harassment suit over this and word has it there will be others now that Raucci is in jail and unable to burn down people’s houses. It is also appalling to a Grammar Nazi that he was working as any kind of supervisor in a school system. But the sexist stuff is far more serious, I’ll admit. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/284 "2009-07-30T04:45:00Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > What the fuck are you babbling about? You said that picking a guy at random to help move a piece of furniture is sexist. You then used an example that you know is borderline racist and say, “see, we would never think to do this, because it’s racist.” How am I calling you out as anything? > > I think the cheese has done slid off your cracker. [Moderator Admonition]And _I_ think you’ve forgotten that you are not posting in The BBQ Pit. Dial it back about six notches or get an official warning, o.k.?[/Moderator Admonition] ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/285 "2009-07-30T05:24:14Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > If they were going to put on a play about prison, would you be offended if the teacher told only Black students to audition for roles as convicts? After all, they’re statistically more likely to be incarcerated than their white classmates. :rolleyes: Yikes. > [@Excerpts from the above dialogue](#): > > you think I’m being racist because you don’t understand statistics…you’re fucking hopeless…You could at least have the balls to stick by your insults…I repeat: You are hopeless…And still without the chutzpah to actually call me out as a racist…I think the cheese has done slid off your cracker…Perhaps reading comprehension is your problem. Earlier today I called up two of my old high school teachers, one male and one female, and asked them about this. Their consensus: a. Yes, asking “any boys want to help me move XYZ” is sexist. But, b. If a female student volunteered they wouldn’t stop her. And, c. They wouldn’t start clapping for the societal progress everyone just witnessed neither. Because, d. They just want the desk moved. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/286 "2009-07-30T08:30:39Z")
> [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > To beat a dead horse and waste more time, let’s debate which is a bigger factor in the moving of furniture: A lower center of gravity or more muscle mass. Is furniture moved more efficiently by sheer power or is it finessed using physical principles such as the lever and pushing versus pulling? > > I am female, and there was no moving of furniture at my school that the girls couldn’t handle. > > Sheesh. Okay. What sex are most people who move furniture for a career? Why is this? Sheesh, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/287 "2009-07-30T15:45:15Z")
Heck, my mom and her friends used to rearrange their living rooms constantly. They’d move great big bookshelves and so on from one end to the other at the drop of a hat. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/288 "2009-07-30T16:00:58Z")
Seems to me like this whole thing is just getting out of hand, with all the extraneous information and accusations of racism flying around. The simple bottom line is this, as I see it: 1. As a general rule, given a group of teenagers roughly the same age, the boys are going to be (on average) stronger than the girls. 2. This does not imply any of the following: 3. The teacher would not in any way be incorrect or offensive by requesting “a strong person” to help him/her move furniture. Yes, true, it’s likely to be one or more boys who respond, but that’s irrelevant to the question. 4. The teacher _could_ be construed as being incorrect, offensive, or insensitive by requesting “a strong boy” to help. Therefore, it seems to me that the logical course of action here is for the teacher to request “a strong person,” gender irrelevant, to help with the job. He or she is then free to choose from the available volunteers (and would probably still be safe in choosing a strong-looking boy even if a girl volunteers, as long as he/she didn’t make a big deal about it). Does this about cover it? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/289 "2009-07-30T19:06:35Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > No, it doesn’t work “until you have a break.” It \*\*maybe \*\*keeps the blood off of your pants until you can walk back to where you have a pad or a tampon. I don’t know of any woman who would use toilet-paper as a stop-gap (no pun intended… maybe) and go back to what she was doing for a few hours. The original complaint was that women/girls need a bag with them at all times in case they have a surprise bleed. My point was only that if this happens, there are emergencies measures to get you back to your locker for your bag. I didn’t say for a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/290 "2009-07-30T23:52:33Z")
Discounting actual domestic violence, I found the whole attitude towards Hillary Clinton during the primaries appalling. The sticker had to come when someone put up the “Iron my shirt” sign and people actually just laughed it off. That kind of attitude is not what I want people to think is normal. He should have been treated exactly as if his sign said “Nigger” to Obama. The police should have throw him out on his ass, literally, and tore up his sign ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/291 "2009-07-31T17:05:32Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Okay. What sex are most people who move furniture for a career? Why is this? There’s a great example, actually–if the moving company advertised for job openings and specified that they were looking **for men** , they’d get sued. So, therefore, we can clearly see that it’s also sexist when the teacher does it, albeit not illegal. > [@winterhawk11](#): > > [snip] Does this about cover it? Looks poifect to me! > [@YogSosoth](#): > > Discounting actual domestic violence, I found the whole attitude towards Hillary Clinton during the primaries appalling. Yeah, it was really creepy. And it made it harder for those of us who disliked her for political reasons–you kept getting shouted down by her supporters as just being sexist. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/292 "2009-07-31T17:06:53Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > There’s a great example, actually–if the moving company advertised for job openings and specified that they were looking **for men** , they’d get sued. So, therefore, we can clearly see that it’s also sexist when the teacher does it, albeit not illegal. Illegal to advertise it that way, but not illegal if the only people they hire are men. ---
**Author:** ![twilly80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@twilly80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twilly80)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/293 "2009-07-31T17:29:35Z")
> [@justin\_bailey](#): > > illegal to advertise it that way, but not illegal if the only people they hire are men. power to the men! ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/294 "2009-07-31T17:39:24Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Discounting actual domestic violence, I found the whole attitude towards Hillary Clinton during the primaries appalling. The sticker had to come when someone put up the “Iron my shirt” sign and people actually just laughed it off. That kind of attitude is not what I want people to think is normal. He should have been treated exactly as if his sign said “Nigger” to Obama. The police should have throw him out on his ass, literally, and tore up his sign “Iron my shirt” doesn’t equal nigger in any way. “Pick some cotton” might be about the same level, but I can’t assume how people would have reacted to it. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/295 "2009-07-31T19:03:36Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Illegal to advertise it that way, but not illegal if the only people they hire are men. Unless they specifically excluded equally- or more-qualified women on the basis of their gender, you’re exactly correct. And what the teacher did was advertise **only for boys**. If she had selected out of the volunteers only the strongest students, who happened to all be male, there would be no problem. The sexism comes in only asking for male applicants. ---
**Author:** ![Stathol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@Stathol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stathol)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/296 "2009-07-31T20:07:04Z")
The summer after my freshman (maybe sophomore?) year of high school (~1995), I got a job at the local Taco Bell. It was a cardinal rule of working there that male employees never got to work the order window or the front counter. Ever. The reason? As the (female) manager explained to me in a completely non-chalant manner one day, male employees weren’t allowed to work the registers or they would steal. Only female employees could be trusted to handle cash. The following summer, I heard that she had been fired by the owner. But since I had decided to seek summer employment elsewhere, I never did find out why. Quite frankly, there were many reasons she needed to go. Blatant gender discrimination was probably the least of them. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/297 "2009-08-01T05:58:50Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Unless they specifically excluded equally- or more-qualified women on the basis of their gender, you’re exactly correct. And what the teacher did was advertise **only for boys**. If she had selected out of the volunteers only the strongest students, who happened to all be male, there would be no problem. The sexism comes in only asking for male applicants. If a female student had stood up and started moving the desk I don’t think the teacher would have told her to sit her ass down. If they asked for boys it was probably in a way to elicit a volunteer from somebody, anyway, and if asking for boys gets a girl to volunteer then that’s just great. As I said above, they just want the damn desk moved. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/298 "2009-08-03T16:12:13Z")
> [@Skylark](#): > > If a female student had stood up and started moving the desk I don’t think the teacher would have told her to sit her ass down. If they asked for boys it was probably in a way to elicit a volunteer from somebody, anyway, and if asking for boys gets a girl to volunteer then that’s just great. As I said above, they just want the damn desk moved. But the teacher **only asked for boys** , which **is sexist**. It doesn’t matter if she would have allowed a girl to do it; it doesn’t matter if she was trying to elicit a better response (and why would “strong boy” work better than “strong student”?) and your personal, unverified opinion is that this was the best method–what matters is that **she only asked for boys**. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/299 "2009-08-03T16:25:54Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Okay. What sex are most people who move furniture for a career? Why is this? It’s in large part because the majority of adult males are stronger than the majority of adult females. That’s irrelevant to the situation at hand. Last year I had two students in my class, let’s call them Pam and Jimmy. Pam was very large for her age. Jimmy was very small for his age. If I needed furniture moved, I’d certainly ask Pam for help before I asked Jimmy. At my grade level (2), girls are on average larger than boys, I believe. I would never dream of asking, “Could I get some girls to help me move this furniture?” It’s just as easy, and far more accurate, to ask for help from the strong and large students in the class. Also, doing so doesn’t reinforce gender stereotypes, doesn’t subtly teach students to replace knowledge of an individual with crass identity politics, in which a person is little more than membership in various groups. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565/300 "2009-08-03T16:44:50Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > It’s just as easy, and far more accurate, to ask for help from the strong and large students in the class. Also, doing so doesn’t reinforce gender stereotypes, doesn’t subtly teach students to replace knowledge of an individual with crass identity politics, in which a person is little more than membership in various groups. /applause [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-egregiously-sexist-act-you-have-ever-seen/503565.md?page=16)