madpeople wrote:QUOTE (madpeople @ Mar 9 2007, 10:16 AM) cant do that.
we had a candidate running for something in the student union get kicked out because of racist / sexist policys..
they included
getting a mens officer (there is already a womens officer, men should have one too)
getting a straights officer (there is a homosexual's officer, we should have one too)
getting a whites officer (there is one for foreigners so...)
that's equal rights for you
they want all the extra things, but don't want to give up what they have that we don't
As your stereotypical campus liberal, allow me to submit the left-wing reasoning here.
The purpose of minority offices and agencies (such as a women's officer, LGBT student organization, etc.) is to address unique problems that minorities may face within certain institutions. Establishing a specific agency to address the unique needs of straight white males is incoherent in that it presupposes that (1) Straight White Males are minorities that require special protection, and (2) Straight White Males face institutional obstacles and discrimination. The former notion is silly, the latter is offensive to some sensibilities and probably what got your student candidate roasted for being a bigot.
In fact, there is a degree of disdain among more radical left-wingers and minority activists for these agencies (or at least some specific incarnations of them), because of the paternalism and condescension implicit in them. Mainline feminist theory, for example, disdains chivalric privileges accorded to women as evidence of chauvinism; it's "Benevolent Sexism" in theory-speak.
Disclosure: Straight White Male? I am two of the three.
