Racist? Sexist?

[Vyn]

Perhaps some of you have read the stories already, but the recent drama with tennis star Serena Williams prompted an editorial cartoonist in Australia to publish this:



There are people who claim the cartoon is both racist and sexist. The artist and the paper he works for claim it is in no way either of those things.

I say it isn't racist or sexist.

What say you?

[discman69]

My wife and I got into a argument about this last night.  No I don't think it's racist or sexist.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Given what I've seen of the incident, I think this acurately reflects what happened, so it is neither racist or sexist. She had a tantrum and smashed her racket.

The argumant should be if the original incident was sexist (I don't think anyone has claimed it was racist), and I just don't see where the sexist angle has come from. The umpire is known to be a stickler for the rules, her coach has said he did coach from the stand (regardless of if she saw his gestures), and everything after that was in line with tennis guidelines. What may be an issue is if the rules are being applied consistently... the umpire in this instance would have been inconsistant if he hadn't ruled the matter as he did.

[Typhon]

   The cartoon is pretty darn funny.  No racism or sexism, but these days that's the automatic excuse if anything goes against a black person or a woman.  Never their fault.  Sad.

[Jack the Stripper]

It's neither. Williams was honestly and humorously depicted by a cartoonist as a dummy spitting spoiled brat simply because she did carry on like a dummy spitting spoiled brat.
Nothing more to it...But again, just another case of political correctness gone mad on unsocial media and the like.

Can't believe this has made world news btw.

[Zzzptm]

I just saw it now for the first time. I looked over some other stuff done by the cartoonist. I don't think he *meant* it as racist or sexist.

However, he certainly did employ artistic motifs commonly associated with "Little Black Sambo" types of illustration, which are associated with denigrating portrayals of persons based upon race - racism, for short.

Yes, it's racist. Unintentionally so, but it is.

Wright's other works bear examination. I've looked over other depictions he's done of women in politics, and they seem quite positive to me. He's recently criticized a male tennis player for bad behavior and I believe that's what he was getting after here. He just picked the wrong way to draw Serena Williams to criticize her meltdown at the match. Even though he's over-emphasized the lips on a number of other caricatures, he should have known better than to go that route and invoke 19th century stock methods of portraying Africans.

He certainly avoided those in his work that portrayed Australian first peoples in a positive light. His caricature of Adam Goodes was very favorable and did not employ any of that Black Sambo stuff.

On to the sexist part... if it's racist, it's easy to tag other -ists on it as well. Is the portrayal itself sexist, in that it is unfairly criticizing a woman for doing something that men do all the time? I don't think so. The fact that he called out bad behavior from a male player shows that the cartoonist is applying an even standard in his targets.

***

It's a sensitive topic, to be sure, and the cartoonist went in with an opinion and touched on raw nerves. That's what editorialists do for a living, though.

In Williams' case, she's got a long history of critics going after her with racially and sexually charged language and imagery. They usually do go together when her detractors employ such imagery.

[Tyr66]

  The cartoon is pretty darn funny.  No racism or sexism, but these days that's the automatic excuse if anything goes against a black person or a woman.  Never their fault.  Sad.

this.

[Zzzptm]

I'm going to disagree strongly with the "never their fault" line.

We just finished week 1 of pro football here in the USA, and there were plenty of bad coaching decisions, bad play calls, bad reactions, bad everything. There are black head coaches that made bad calls, and nobody was saying that they should be replaced with a white coach... and nobody was saying that criticism of the black coaches was racially motivated. 30 years ago, that could very well have been a thing in the USA. It's not now.

It's a mental crutch to dismiss accusations of racism and sexism as being groundless, using always/never terms.

[Charger]

Ofcourse it's not racists nor sexist nor anything..

But in this day and age you depict a black person in a humoristical/sarcastical way it's automatically racist. And if you do that to a woman it's automatically sexist...and if you do both it's:


Which is absolutely ridiculous and the biggest symptom of this "political correctness" bullshit that has taken over the world.

I thought it was damn funny too and it indeed depicted the situation quite accurately in a very humorous way...just like a good caricature cartoon should.

[Zzzptm]

OK, for those who say it was neither racist or sexist... what would be racist or sexist, in your opinion? Not asking to necessarily draw a line of demarcation because I don't think it's necessarily as clear as that. But what is in that area?

For example, Typhon recently made a comment - which he did identify as racist - about my recent dive into funk and soul. Yes, he identified it as a joke, but also as racist. So at least there's that data point to work with. Certainly, more strongly worded phrases would also be racist, but are there also lesser things that are also racist, even if not to the same degree?

Same question with sexism. That's one reason some of us are here, because of some very offensive comments made elsewhere. Not all of us are here for that, but there's also that data point to work from.

Disclaimer: yes, I used to be a teacher. So that's why I like to start discussions instead of lectures, as we tend to learn better from discussions.

[Tyr66]

Can we say if she would have made the same comments if the referee had been a black woman? I'm not sure .
Would a less famous white female player have made so much drama? Of course not . And if the referee had been a black man, the young white woman  would not dare for fear of being accused of racism.It becomes systematic and too easy nowdays. Communitarianism has a bright future ahead of it.
She takes advantage of the ambient climate: you are a man in conflict with a woman so you are sexist. moreover if this woman is black you are therefore also racist. We can also do a reverse analysis: she shows sexism and anti-white racism by default against this man. Her "victim" position in front of medias is outrageous.
You lost Serena, period, and please, buy a decent outfit for your next match.

Beyond this debate, am I racist because I talk about it? According to the "political correctness" I could think yes, according to me , no but I can't close my eyes ad my mouth if I'm not agree with something like that because thankfully I can do it.

[Zzzptm]

Still, what is an example of something you think is racist or sexist? Not where someone else puts the marker at where they see a limit, but where you see a limit.

For example, when I was teaching, there were conversations I had with other teachers that wanted to leave the school I taught at because, their words, "The demographics have changed." The school population was 95% white when I was a student there. It was around 40% white when I taught there. They did not cite poor parent involvement or administrative pressures or student behavior - the "demographics" were all they talked about. To me, that is racism. It is very softly put, but racism it is.

A worse example was when the German teacher was angry with an English teacher who happened to be Jewish. She coldly said to him, "We should have put you *all* in the ovens when we had a chance!"

For sexism, when I did tech support for Windows 95, every now and then a customer would ask to have a different support tech because they did not want to work a technical issue with a woman. The managers there would explain that either the person would work with the tech assigned to the case or the person could choose to not have support. Sexism on the part of the customer, good support from the management of Microsoft.

[Typhon]

OK, for those who say it was neither racist or sexist... what would be racist or sexist, in your opinion?

You need an example?  Okay, you've got it.  Change the line the umpire says in the cartoon to. "Can't you just let the ni**er win".  Perhaps now you understand the difference.

And another thing.  I don't think you quite understand what a "caricature" is.

[discman69]

Or have the umpire talking to a "male" tennis player saying "can't you just let her win" meaning I know you are the superior sex but for her sake let the little gal win. That would be sexist.

[Zzzptm]

Thanks for the comments.

@Typhon, I do understand caricature, but also that there are some stock elements that just go with racist portrayals. Same thing as how I might have a LOT Of explaining to do if I said someone had a "niggardly" attitude about money, going with a caricature that emphasized her lips and drew her hair style as a sort of tribal exaggeration, not very far from what was in 1946's "Tintin in the Congo."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintin_in_the_Congo



There's also the accusation of her opponent being "whitened" for the cartoon.