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sc94597 on 01 June 2016
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JWeinCom said:

Well half of those are bad examples anyway... but...

In 28 states you can be fired for being gay without recourse. There are people actively fighting to keep it this way. Gay people can not share benefits with their partners, adopt, and so on.

Women earn significantly less than men and are often perceived as less capable despite being otherwise qualified. Studies have shown biases towards labeling women as "chatty", "talkative", or "gossipy" even in cases where they have not been.

A skinny bodytype is definitely preferred. People underweight on BMI are perceived as healthier and more attractive than those within the normal range. Magazines photoshop already thing people to make them abnormally thin, then promise advice on how to reach these unattainable goals.

If you didn't realize when you were typing it, the common denominator in all of these examples is power. The top example is an example of people in power talking about the less powerful group. Quite often these groups have the power and influence to impose, or at least attempt to impose, their will on the less powerful group. So that's the difference here.

As a gay person I want my homophobic employers to be able to fire me. I want to expose him/her for his/her homophobia. I don't want to work and benefit a homophobe. We live in a time when being gay isn't a big deal for the majority of people, I am not worried about the underwhelming minority who aren't alright with it.

Women earn less than men, yes, but they don't have a lower wage. Earnings =/= wage. It is illegal to pay women a lower wage than men. Why do women earn less? They are not pressured to be bread-winners, they are not as money-centric as men, they have other priorities in life, they don't have motivation to put in 80 hour weeks and rather would spend their money, etc, etc. That is alright. Women and Men have different wants and needs. Women also have affirmative action to their benefit. I am sure it outweighs the negatives of being considered "chatty", "talkative", or "gossipy." 

Is this true? I haven't experienced people with a lower BMI being considered healthier than people in the normal range. In fact for men this is certainly not true, being underweight is viewed down upon. Maybe compared to overweight people underweight people are viewed ideally, but there is good reason for that. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. 

The "power" sociological position is ridiculous and holds very little force behind it for everyday people. The only people who see things that way are those who study a subfield of liberal arts in college. Racism, sexism, etc exist regardless of the structural power of a class of people historically. Most people see things on the individual level these days, and that is a good thing. Let's not regress here.