Still Time This Year to Get Your Sexist Comments In!

When I read this post on Pat Lang's blog this morning, I spotted a comment that bothered me:

Saddam may have killed your father, uncle or brother, but he died a man.

I wrote a comment to the effect that the phrase "dying a man" implies that only men are capable of dying courageously. We all know women are equally courageous as men, so why continue the stereotype that courageous behavior is male? This is bothersome to men, I imagine, who'd like to be able to express emotion without being called "girly" as well as women, who are tired of having their sex used synonymously for "weak".

I also indicated that while it was probably an inadvertent use of the language, continuing to use such phrases only furthers old, sexist stereotypes. I'm not a frequent reader of this blog; I only read it when No Quarter links to it, so I didn't imagine the author was a serial sexist.

And then I waited for my comment to be approved.

Imagine my surprise when I got this reply in my inbox:

I discipline people on my site, not you.

Huh? Did you not write the original comment, I asked, and in reply, was told:

If you do not have the wit to understand that that line means that he
died a resolute human being, then you have problems too profound for me to
deal with.

Wait! Me, witless? Moi? Surely W. Patrick Lang, ret. colonel, U.S. Army., has never read my blog! All right, I'll concede that point, but if Col. Lang ever tries to tell me or my daughters that we are incapable of dying as "resolute human beings" because of our sex, I'll have a few words to say to him, none of which need involve wit.

For starters, I could tell him about the many courageous women who've died, maybe even under his command, while fighting for their country. I could tell him about women I've watched die from cancer, never uttering a cowardly word. I could tell him about watching my mother fight a horrible disease, never once crying over how life had dealt her such a rotten hand.

And I'd tell him how continuing to use phrases like "died a man" only makes one look a fool.

(I might also add that refusing to publish critical comments on your blog might be construed by some as cowardly. Or at the very least a "profound problem".)

Comments

[KathyR]

W. Pat has a very large stick wedged someplace...

[KathyF]

You noticed?

These guys need to learn not to mess with a woman with a high Google ranking.

[SusanV]

You tell 'em, KathyF!

[Chris Clarke]

What a putz.

Good thing he's seems not to be able to craft a coherent sentence: there's no loss in my not visiting his site again.

[Diane]

This is an excellent opportunity to implore all men and women to stop saying someone (man or woman) with courage "has balls." Male genitalia have nothing at all to do with courage.

[Kath]

Kathy, ditto the putz moniker. He doesn't get it and never will.

Move forward...he's not worth it :-)

Bestest of all 2007 wishes to you and your family over there in Brit land!

[eRobin]

I came over to say Happy New Year and find you taking on Pat Lang! Good on ya', woman :) Have a happy, healthy 2007.

[Chris Clarke]

Good thing he's seems not to be able to craft a coherent sentence

I'm still laughing at this. Happy new year, y'all.

[KathyF]

We laugh with you, Chris. Happy New Year to you and your fine puppy.

[The Heretik]

Stranger and stranger still.

[Rod]

My personal observation is that very few women would treat entire populations of people in any manner such as men like Saddam, Pinochet, Henry Kissinger, little Dick Cheney, Ron Dumsfeld and The Idiot Son and their ilk have.

[Kathy]

My, my, you seem to have struck a nerve. You must be more careful in the future lest you damage some fragile male ego. I'd say "putz" pretty much covers it.

[KathyF]

I should point out that the original "like a man" comment, written by Lang in his original post, may well have been a case of inadvertent sexism, and I didn't really take the insult personally. But the verbiage he follows that up with was clearly meant as: "shut up stupid bitch". (I didn't even post the contents of his last email, essentially telling me to "go away.")

The lesson here is, don't follow up ignorance with sheer stupidity. Should I ever meet Col. Lang, a vague possibility since we do travel in some of the same circles, I'd ask him how those holes are coming along.

[Serge]

Does dying like a man mean that, when he was hanged, he ejaculated?

[KathyF]

Oh great, thank you for that image, Serge!

[Serge]

Bwahahahah!!!