I came across this headline just now: Poll: Obama wins women and blacks while McCain wins whites
There's something so odd about this. There's an assumption here that "whites" can refer to just men. Or, that women constitutes a classification such as race. "Women and blacks" suggests that women are not included inherently in "black." Women seem to be likewise not necessarily included in "white." I understand what is really meant here, but it is really poor phraseology...
2 comments:
Amazing how we get judged.
White men - blacks and women
a totally anitquated view point
yet one that is still very predominant...
I suppose it also means men are not black.. weird really.
it is very weird on several levels. Looking at it in your post here, it seems clearer to me how to articulate the basic issue better: The named races here, black and white, automatically and innately refer to men. Women have been stripped of racial identity altogether. The overall message though, within the particular rhetorical setup seems to be that whites=men, and that blacks don't =women.
I was rading my son's Newsweek after I posted this, and a very similar comment was made.
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