zlacker

Because I'm a professional, and strive to avoid treating people differently based on their gender/sex?

>>karpie+(OP)
What about race?

I ask because if you took that same attitude towards race, you could easily be accused of colorblind racism.

>>karpie+(OP)
There's being a professional but there's also not seeing the situation you are in. I would be hesitant to be in a one on one situation in a private area with a female colleague, especially one below me in the organisational structure. Even an unfounded accusation could completely derail my life and career.

When I was young I had something similar happen. A woman went around telling people she had slept with me. We hadn't. Nobody believed my side of the story since "why would she lie?". This caused a rift with my best friend, who had a crush on her. I lost my best friend due to a lie I couldn't disprove.

>>zepto+84
Same principle.

To be clear, I'm not saying that I do treat all people equally, regardless of their race, gender, sexuality, etc. I grew up in an environment filled with stereotypes, and they do seep through. I can only strive to avoid having that bias affect how I treat people. If it does leak through, I try to recognize it and do better in the future.

>>Maximu+A4
> Even an unfounded accusation could completely derail my life and career.

I don't think that treating people poorly because you're worried that not doing so could hurt your career is the right thing to do. It might be pragmatic in your case, but so is taking money out of a wallet you find on the ground.

> I lost my best friend due to a lie I couldn't disprove.

You lost your best friend because your best friend didn't trust you and because someone lied. None of that is your fault. Sometimes the world is a shitty place with shitty people. That isn't a reason to add to that shittiness by refusing to treat women in the workplace as you would men.

>>karpie+pe
That is what is known as colorblind racism in current social justice thinking. The idea is that treating people equally is inappropriate because you are ignoring the impact of the various oppressions they have experienced.

Some people would go as far as to say this is a cornerstone of white supremacy.

>>zepto+VB
Only if you assume that everyone's circumstances are equivalent. If a diabetic asks for insulin, I don't believe that the only consistent positions are either give everyone or no one insulin.

Similarly, if someone's background (say gender) results in fewer mentorship opportunities because of the ol' boys club, I'm happy to put in some effort to put them in touch with people.

>>karpie+AI
So you don’t in fact treat everyone equally then based on race or gender.

The point I am making is not about whether you are racist though, it’s that saying that you treat all races equally is enough to be classed as racist, regardless of your actual behavior.

>>karpie+hf
Why am I treating someone "poorly" if I refuse to go out of my way to give them help when it's not a requirement of my job? For example, refusing to be an unofficial mentor for somebody. I'm a single parent to two little children, if my career burns it's far more than just me losing some income. I've had to work hard to position myself so I can balance work and family responsibilities.

I've returned every wallet I've ever found and I've never taken any money from them. Doing so poses no risk to myself. It's very easy to stand on your high horse and criticise others but after you've been in the situation of being accused of something it changes your opinion on certain things. I hope that you never have to deal with it.