Is it sexist? And if it is, is it bad?

Yesterday I was asked a question about a potentially sexist tradition, and since I had to write a reply anyway, I thought I would recycle it as a blog post. (It's not being lazy, it's being efficient.)

The story is this: An acquaintance of mine is in charge of a math/science program for high school students. The program hosts a dinner with notable scholars, where a student participating in the program escorts a scholar of the opposite sex. Apparently some people involved in the program think that this practice, described as a "tradition," is sexist, while others think that it's not a big deal, adding that students like the opportunity to talk with the scholars.

Here is my hastily crafted response, slightly edited...it's missing a lot (and it sounds like I'm leading a DOC section), but it did get me thinking about some things (like all those times I had to make tea/coffee at my old workplace...).

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That is an interesting question about the program. Here are some of my personal thoughts.

I think I agree with both sides of the group―Is it sexist? Yes. Is it a big deal? Probably not.

I think that it is sexist because it is a decision being made based on the identity category of "sex". Therefore, by definition, it is "sexist". If we were to have, say, a white student escort a black scholar simply because it is a tradition that a person of a particular race escort a person of a different race, then that, too, would be racist―since the decision is being made based on the identity category of race.

Is that a bad thing, or a big deal? Who knows. On a practical level, maybe not. At least for the person doing the escorting or being escorted, I'm sure it's not terribly unpleasant.

I think the larger question is, setting aside the idea that this probably isn't a "big deal" in practical terms, do we want to maintain a tradition that is inherently sexist? For example, in Japan, we have a "tradition" of women wearing wedding dresses or female kimonos and men wearing tuxedos or male kimonos when holding a wedding ceremony. Is that a big deal? Probably not. But then, what do we do about the "tradition" of women in Japan being asked to make tea/coffee for their coworkers/bosses/corporate guests, or being denied opportunities for promotion, just because they are women? Or the "tradition" that men are expected to work long hours and drink too much for corporate socialization just because they are men? Both of these seem like problematic traditions and gender/sex roles. ("Problems" also arise, I think, when some people decide not to follow those traditions.)

These "traditions" may seem like they are of different types, but traditions, too, are things that are created and invented by people. They are not natural things that simply emerged and were then handed down from generation to generation. At some point, someone decided to start calling a particular practice a "tradition."

So, on a practical level, the program's tradition is probably not a big deal, even if it is sexist. But on an ideological level, in which "tradition" is often used to justify many discriminatory and oppressive practices, I wonder if we want to rethink whether it is appropriate to maintain such a tradition. Perhaps we do.

It might help to consider what the "goal" is for maintaining such a tradition. Is the goal simply to maintain the tradition? Or to provide participating students an opportunity to speak with a famous scholar? If it is the latter, then why not simply have another opportunity to do so? It may not be "one-on-one," but I wonder if that would hardly matter.

Also, consider if you had a program participant who was a transgender or a transsexual student. Would there then be issues in trying to decide if that student should escort a male or a female scholar? Would you deny that student the opportunity to escort the scholar because you cannot arbitrate to which sex category the student belongs?

What is the alternative? I'm not sure, but I am sure that there are many. These are simply my personal thoughts, so I hope that you do not take them too seriously, or share them with others.

Sincerely...