Natural history
Have none of you ever watched a David Attenborough programme about chimps, gorillas or orang-outangs?

How are we so different? We are primates and we live, largely, in groups. Everyone in the group has a role and a certain level of status. There is the alpha male, the b3ta males, the teenagers, the infants. There is the dominant female, her favourites, sisters, hangers-on, kids etc. The elderly are either chased off or tolerated and treated with respect. The youngsters are tolerated until they become too much of a nuisance, at which point they are given a clip round the ear. Kids are protected (for the most part) by their fathers, brothers and uncles and adored and nurtured (for the most part) by their mothers, sisters and aunts.

Humans have modified their behaviour to some extent over the millennia but as a rule, they conform roughly to the primate rules. Not all males are alpha males, not all females are dominant females - most of us are the boring types that don't make it into the documentaries because they are tolerated by the others, give a hand with foraging, look on from the sidelines when big alpha is blowing off, play with the kids, develop a new method of digging termites out of the mound and generally sit around scratching their balls or sneaking off to a tree top for a swift one off the wrist when the females are 'in season' - or quietly tend their kids and teach them the ways of the world and try to ignore the b3ta males when their privates swell up and go pink.

Sexism is merely the inability to see that not all humans wish to behave like the majority - the loud, exuberant, show-off majority. Introverts are the 'dark matter' of the human universe; we don't go to football matches, but prefer to sit quietly on the river bank. We don't trudge around town on Friday nights, fighting each other and fucking and puking in the alleys - we sit at home quietly with a bottle of wine watching telly. We don't push to the front of the queues at the sales, but order online and we don't wear clothes that leave nothing to the imagination - because we HAVE an imagination.

Right - lecture over. Grimsdale has spoken.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Wed 30 Dec 2009, 14:12, 9 replies)

wait
what was that about, you being a bit quiet?
(Monkeystrumpet monkey. Monkey, MONKEY!!!, Wed 30 Dec 2009, 15:45, closed)

What?
That was a Grimsdale speciality 'softly-spoken-rant'(C).

Sorry if it came over a bit louder than intended.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Wed 30 Dec 2009, 16:08, closed)

erm
i just didnt get the sexism bit.....maybe its still too close to xmas, i may still be slightly drunk?
(Monkeystrumpet monkey. Monkey, MONKEY!!!, Wed 30 Dec 2009, 16:32, closed)

big click

( RadG Drinking Mojitos in the sun, Wed 30 Dec 2009, 17:22, closed)

Wow
Prententious Twaddle.
(mysterious_w, Wed 30 Dec 2009, 17:48, closed)

Hardly.
I'll vouch for what he's saying with this, as I have heard this expressed by a variety of social work and psychology types. We like to think that our vastly superior brains lift us up from primate behavior- but really, it doesn't. Just go out to wherever your local chavs hang out and you'll see it on clear display.

And if you go into any professional office you'll see it on clear display as well, just in a slightly more subtle form.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 30 Dec 2009, 18:20, closed)

Too True
Nicely put

*click*
(micmac is happy as a pig in shite, Thu 31 Dec 2009, 1:41, closed)

I wasn't talking about the 1st paragraph
Mainly the whole "We blah blah blah blah blah..." bit at the end.
(mysterious_w, Thu 31 Dec 2009, 12:49, closed)

Pretentious twaddle - like it!

I'm not entirely sure what I was trying to say about sexism, except that our behaviours and inclinations can run very deep and can run along gender lines. This is not to say that they can't (and should) be challenged; it also doesn't mean that women can't be soldiers or men can't be nursery school teachers. It doesn't mean that men won't notice breasts on an intelligent woman, or that a Hollywood film will be produced without a woman in a vest or in a shower.

I think what I'm saying is: behave the way that you want to behave and reap the benefits and/or take the consequences as a result. If you want to be a sexist pig, then don't be surprised if you end up with a woman that wants you to provide for them. If you are broad-minded, gentle and understanding, don't be surprised if you find a partner that is not comfortable flashing her tits in public.

Different societies and different ages have different sensibilities - my main problem is working out how women are going to cope in a society where boys and men access hardcore pornography regularly and from an early age. I don't envy my daughter or her peers.

Happy new year everyone - especially TRL.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Thu 31 Dec 2009, 10:53, closed)