xkcd is usually pretty good with the whole feminism thing. So this really disappointed me:
Yes, the experimentation idea in the cartoon is funny. And xkcd probably thinks it just shows how cool and hip and tolerant – and possibly even feminist – he is, you know, ha ha, I’m not put off by a woman who used to sleep with women.
But surely there was a way of making the same joke (“what if lesbian experimentation was done scientifically?”) without the sexist implication (“the woman is dirty because she slept with lots of men”)?
xkcd’s alt text (“I understand large sample sizes are key to a low standard error of the mean, but the entire sophomore class?”) just hammers home the sexist message.
And so, even the men who manage to be feminist some of the time – and who seem to really mean it, who seem to really like and respect women – manage to fail some of the time when they think they’re just being funny.
Well, yes.
On the other hand, xkcd seems to be very willing to learn and when we have someone who is willing to learn, who wants to learn differently, it might behoove us to correct but with kindness.
Which this is kind, I don’t mean to imply differently.