David N. Snyder wrote:Kim O'Hara wrote:
1. Salman Rushdie, who ought to know, has said that only white people can afford the luxury of being blind to skin colour.
Unless you are Black and living in Africa.
... On a day to day basis people of European ancestry normally are not conscious of their race, whereas, those of African ancestry are always reminded of it (unless they are living in Africa).
Salman Rushdie, an Indian, was living in London when he wrote the essay I pulled that statement from.
Getting back to gender ... the more I think about it, the less I'm sure it's desirable to be blind to it. As Sanghamitta pointed out:
If it stays at race or gender then no one is served. But neither are they served by not recognising our unique set of kammic and biological circumstances, including the melanin that shapes our ethnic identity.
It would be wrong to discriminate against anyone in terms or colour or gender...but we start from where we are and that includes a recognition of all that makes us unique and that must ultimately be transcended. ...
We start with this breath, in this body, at this moment. And we see no one as inferior or superior to us .
But it is a real man or real woman that we relate to with all their strengths and all their needs.
Not an abstract.
In real life it is inevitable that we notice these kinds of things and if we don't respond to them at all we neuter our interaction, make it impersonal. That's not an advance, is it? So what we want is full equality, full recognition of the value of the other person regardless of gender or ethnicity, but not gender-blindness or colour-blindness as such.
In cyberspace it is
not inevitable that we notice these kinds of things, or can even discover them, but I think the same basic principle holds true: the more we know about each other, the better we can respond to each other.
There are always going to be difficulties, of course, but that's okay. It has been hypothesised that we evolved our big brains primarily to deal with the complexities of social interaction, so I suppose we'll just have to keep evolving.
Kim