Reply #72: So, if the soldier had been told to stop acting like a "limp dick son of a bitch" would that

[bertman]

have been sexist? Is that the kind of statement that would qualify as sexism or grounds for a lawsuit?

That is the kind of comment that gets slung around when men are cracking on men. It's certainly not intended for mixed company and it does have a negative connotation in that it implies that the man in question isn't man enough to "get it up", but it's not as if the guy actually means that the other person is sexually impotent or that his mother is a female dog.

Humor almost always shows a lack of respect for someone or something. It's that tension that makes it "funny" or ironic and causes people to laugh. In the case of McCord being chewed out by his supervisor, I'm sure it wasn't intended as humor or a slam on women or women soldiers, but as a way of telling McCord to toughen up. And, as I've said repeatedly, it was the wrong approach IMO.

I find it interesting that you think this would qualify as disrespect for women. Some of the most sarcastic, hateful, and nasty remarks I have ever heard made about women were made by women when I was at parties with my lesbian friends and their friends after they get loosened up with a few drinks. The first time I heard them I couldn't believe what I was hearing. They, on the other hand, guffawed as if they thought it was the funniest thing they had ever heard. After the initial shock and embarrassment I realized that they were just doing what everyone else does. Funny, but it didn't even occur to me that they were being sexist or perpetuating stereotypes--even though they probably were in the most technical and far-reaching sense.